The Riddle of Steel
by Chuckman
Summary: Hither came Shinji Ikari, black haired, sullen eyed, to tread the thrones of the Earth beneath his Evangelion's feet.
1. Chapter 1

The following story incorporates trademarks and copyrighted concepts from Studios Gainax and Khara, respectively, along with references to the the works of John Milius, L. Sprague De Camp and, of course, Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian.

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><p><em>Chapter One<em>

One day when he was young Shinji Ikari did an unusual thing, which was to take a chance. He was walking home from school to his uncle's house, but he didn't want to go there. The old man had little time for him, and all his home amounted to was a sleeping mat, an old chest of drawers, and a lamp. He had no television, and nothing to read but school books. The only thing that he could do for himself was play the cello, and that only when the old man would permit it. He practiced at the instrument only because he began when he was young, and only because no one had ever truly told him to stop, only to delay from time to time. On a normal day he would have proceeded directly home to begin his homework, but today was different.

Today a girl had told him no.

To Shinji, his fellow human beings were mysterious creatures, distant and frightening. He existed ever on the periphery of things, watching the others, observing but never interacting, never invited to play or participate. As young boys often are, he found himself drawn to that most mysterious and forbidding segment of the humans species, the young girl. It was after watching for several days that he elected to ask Aika, a pretty girl with freckles, to join him on his walk home.

Of course, she'd said no, and so rather than proceed home as normal, he decided to take the long and circuitous route that dejected boys often took when in a situation such as his, that being one that went nowhere. He found himself on a gentle upward grind and not being in particularly impressive physical shape, found himself quite winded. As he walked by the side of the road, his gaze wandered through the trees, gazing after strange shapes carved in shadow by the oncoming sunset. He paid so little attention that he in fact tripped.

For a while, he could only lay, dazed and defeated, in the dust. He rolled onto his back, shrugged off his backpack, and sat up. He'd tripped on a box that lay half-buried in the ground under an gnarled old tree that rose in twisted forks and held no leaves. Hanging from the tree was the tatters of a wooden sign, no doubt a forgotten marker left to bear the name of someone who'd died in Second Impact. They were as common as the leaves on the trees.

He tugged at the box, and fell on his backside again in the process of yanking it free. It was an old valise, half rotted, made of soft tanned leather and green felt. The lid was unsecured, the latches long ago having fallen off, and flopped in his hands when he lifted it. He was surprised to find inside the case a number of strange books. Most of them were large and heavy, as big as his textbooks. The titles were in English, a language over which he had little grasp, despite its prominence in his school curriculum.

Each book was adorned with a realistically painted image of a hugely muscled man with long black hair. Here he was nearly naked, holding a sword in one hand and a heft axe in the other, a woman in similar states of undress clinging to his leg, looking up in awe. Elsewhere he wore a shirt of chainmail and a horned helmet and swung a double headed axe at a monstrous ape that loomed over a ghostly pale woman. The largest book of all was almost as big as Shinji's torso and must have weighed thirty pounds, perhaps more. He could not read the title. The cover was dominated by the hunched form, photographed in black and white, of a man so heavily muscled he appeared inhuman.

Shinji opened the book and stared in awe. Long passages at the beginning were in English. He giggled in spite of himself at pictures of a fat man lifting a heavy barbell over his head with one hand. As he flipped further into the book, his laughter retreated, replaced by awe. The man from the cover was in many of the pictures, radiating an inhuman strength that disarmed Shinji. Here he pulled a massive barbell from the floor, and there he pressed it from his chest or curled it to his shoulders. There were other men, some larger, some smaller. As he looked over the pictures, he realized something incredible, something magical.

These were not just pictures. These were _instructions._

He looked at the covers of the other books, at a massive two-page spread of the man from the cover of the big book. He was posed in such a way that his muscles expanded hugely, and though beyond him Shinji could see thousands of people in some sort of stadium, he dominated them all with his sheer presence, the raw power he exuded from his body. Shinji trembled as he flipped through the book. Lists, something about food, the word "routine" over and over again.

He shuddered. This was something people could do. Something _he_ could do. He had never loved exercise, always looking on it as a waste of time, and yet… and yet he could not deny the power that this man wielded, even in images. He realized he had no choice. He bowed to the broken wooden sign, dumped his textbooks on the ground, and stuffed everything he'd found in his backpack, saving only the English dictionary. The rest he tucked under his arm and headed for home.

His uncle made no mention of his load as he entered the house, ran upstairs, and slammed the door without speaking to the man or inquiring after food. He locked the door, fell into his battered old desk, and began to work at one of the smaller books, chosen at random.

He had to puzzle out some words phonetically. C-O-N-A-N. The rest he translated, with some difficulty. He was unsure he'd captured the nuances, but the meaning swept through him as he read what he'd transcribed on the thin piece of paper that lay beneath the title of the first book: _The Conquering Sword of Conan. _

He picked up one of the other books, and as he did, a DVD fell out. He picked it up gingerly and studied it for a moment. He gasped. The picture printed on the front was the man from the big book, dressed as 'Conan', he was sure of it. Better yet, it was in _Japanese!_

Of course, he had no DVD player, but his uncle did, on the television in the living room. He waited, working at his translations, until the old man slept. He crept down the stairs in the dark of night, pressed the DVD into the player, and hit the play button. He jumped to turn down the volume and felt a pang of energy surge through his belly as he heard a roll of drums through the television's tinny speakers.

_Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And unto this, Conan, destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure!_

He watched. There was a boy! A young boy, like himself, with a kindly father, like he never had. Terrible men came to the boy's village, and his mother, they… they…

Shinji choked down his sobs and feebly wiped at his tears, watching the lonely boy strain at a grain wheel. His jaw dropped as he saw the head of the boy droop, and the face of a mighty warrior rise in his place. The time seemed to flow from him as the images seared themselves into his mind, the words swept through his brain. When the credits rolled, he was shocked to realize that it was four in the morning, and he took the DVD and crept back upstairs, terrified he would wake his uncle.

That night he crept into bed and found fitful sleep, whispering to himself of the Riddle of Steel.

He set his alarm for the next morning at four. He had none of the machines pictured in the book, and wouldn't know how to use them without reading the English passages, but he could see how some of the exercises worked. He was not strong, but his slight frame was light enough that he could begin with what he'd translated as a "push-up", and that was what his uncle found him doing.

"Three," he grunted, panting, "four, five…"

His uncle stood in the door. "Waste of time, boy. Do your schoolwork."

"Six, seven, eight…"

"Did you hear me?"

"Nine… t-ten…"

His uncle laughed at him, actually laughed, and he flopped on the floor. The old man waved a dismissive hand at him, and wandered on. Shinji lay panting into the floor, beginning to question the wisdom of dumping his textbooks for the treasure he'd found.

"What is the riddle of steel?" he asked the carpet.

That day on his way home from school, he passed by a shop in town, one he had never visited before. He spent his meager allowance, all he'd be saving for weeks hoping to treat Aika if she'd favored him, and bought a simple pull-up bar, one that would fit in the door of his room. That night he managed to perform three strict repetitions before he nearly fell on the floor, the muscles in his back screaming.

The next day he did four.

A month later, he left his cello behind and walked out of the music shop with perhaps a third of its value in hand, but it was enough. The owner of the store was kind enough to drive him home in a battered old van. He hadn't bought much; the bar he'd purchased and the weight plates would add up to one hundred pounds all together, almost as much as he himself weighed. His uncle was amused, but didn't object, when the man from the shop helped Shinji set up his equipment in the disused old shed behind their little house. By now he had enough of the book puzzled out to begin a simple routine. For total body strength he would clean, press, and then squat the bar, empty at first, then do some rows and curls, and finish up with chair dips, pushups and pullups in his room. The first day made him quiver, and the next day he hurt so bad he could barely move. He was tempted to see if he could get his money back.

He chose not to.

He was a little disappointed after two months when he removed his shirt and studied himself in the mirror. He'd had two ghostly lines of abdominal muscles before he started, but his uncle said that was because he was skinny, and they'd fade into pudge as he grew up. Nevertheless, they were still there, and he felt a tightness around his shoulders, his chest and back that was quite pleasant, and he was sure his profile was a little squarer, his torso ever so slightly wider.

He had already bought more weight when the letter from his father came, and was soon to need yet another set of plates, his first pair of 22.5 KG discs. A man in a dark suit and dark sunglasses delivered it by hand, putting it in Shinji's grasp himself. He kept it, still sealed, for an entire day, turning it over and over in his hands. He held it as he rested between sets, his chest heaving from the exertion.

On the evening of the second day he peeled back the top of the enevelope and slipped the letter out, only to find it disappointing. He'd hoped his father would at least offer a token inquiry about his condition, even after he'd run away the last time they visited Mothers' grave together. Instead he found a piece of paper that looked like it had been used for something else, with the word "COME" scrawled across the middle of it in block letters. There was a photograph of a woman, too. Briefly, he wondered at her relationship to Father. Had he remarried? Shinji nearly balled up the letter and threw it away at the thought.

The next day he told the man from the shop he was leaving, never to return. The man shook his hand, complimented him on his progress, and paid him more than a fair price for his used equipment. Packing was simple. He had only a few spare school uniforms, his underclothes, his SDAT, and a new suitcase full of books that he could now easily lift and walk with in one hand.

There was something else, wrapped up securely in a cardboard tube. The poster had been expensive to find and expensive to ship, and he never put it up in his uncle's house.

His uncle did not say goodbye, and Shinji barely took notice. He stood patiently at the train station as the sun rose, watching the heat shimmer over the tracks. The train came on, a giant metal serpent, and when it opened its glassy jaws he stepped inside gladly, a smile on his lips. He was not sure what he would find in Tokyo-3, but he knew one thing with certainty.

That which did not kill him would only make him stronger.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

In future times the children would ask, and Kensuke Aida would answer "I was there. I was there when he came to Tokyo-3.," though at the time, he did not know this. He only knew that there was a profound tension in the air during the week after the creature attacked the city and was destroyed by NERV's giant robot. The rest of his class was gathered around Toji.

Seated casually on a desk to make sure everyone could hear him, Toji was dressed in a track suit rather than the school uniform and this day, like every day, no one would challenge him. He spoke in hushed, almost reverent tones. "I saw it. I saw the battle."

"Was it scary? What did the monster look like?"

"It was big, and it smelled like fish, and its face was funny, like a bird mask or something. The robot came out of the ground and it _kicked its ass._"

"Did it use any special moves?"

"I guess. One of the big buildings that didn't sink opened up, and there was a huge gun in it, but the robot didn't take the gun. It picked up a sword."

"A _sword?"_

"Yeah! It was huge, like as big as a building. The monster tried to attack it, but had, like, moves and stuff. It started cutting it up with the sword and it was screaming, and I heard the pilot talk."

"No way!"

"Yeah. It must have speakers or something. He said, 'It's bleeding. If it bleeds…'"

"…we can kill it." another voice finished.

He stood in the open door of the classroom, school bag slung over one shoulder. He wasn't huge, but even beneath a loose fitting uniform shirt and slacks, he looked like he'd been cut from glass, his arms and legs fashioned from copper wires. His hair was a little longer than the other boys, as if he'd just decided to grow it out. He regarded the room with cool blue eyes. "Where do I sit?"

"You were there, too?" Toji said incredulously.

"Yes," was all he said.

The class representative walked up to him, folder clutched to her chest. "Are you the transfer?"

He nodded, without replying. She sort of stood there, staring at him for a minute before he cleared his throat. "Where should I sit?"

_Five Days Earlier_

There was something about this kid that unnerved Misato. First of all, he was openly checking her out from the minute they met, but he was quiet about it. That, in itself, was fairly normal. She knew how she looked and she could guess the effect she would have on a fourteen year old boy. She did not expect that when she pulled up to pick him up and got out of the car, he'd look at the photo she'd jokingly illustrated with an arrow pointing to her cleavage, then look straight at her chest and say, "You must be Miss Katsuragi."

"Uh, yeah," she said.

"Let's go," he said immediately in a commanding voice.

She tried to pick up one of his bags and grunted, shaking a little. He took it from her and slid it behind the passenger seat of her Renault without even straining himself, then slid into the passenger seat. When she got in, he was flipping through the psych profile she'd left laying out on the seat, the one with his picture clipped to the front.

"Hey!" she said, grabbing for it.

He playfully batted her hands away. "Shy and retiring, possibly clinically depressed, socially avoidant personality." He read, tapping the paper with his fingers. He slowly closed the file and handed it back to her.

"You're not supposed to see that!"

"I didn't," he winked, and sat back in the seat, closing his eyes.

"Uh…" she started.

"Shhhh," he said. "Stood up on the train the whole way. Tired."

There was another reverberating thump as the angel approached from the south of the city. A flight of VTOLs buzzed overhead, rattling the windows in the nearby buildings and making the car rock on its suspension a little.

"Aren't you a little worried?" she said as she pulled out onto the street, taking the next corner a little harder than she'd intended.

The kid swayed a little with the motion, but didn't open his eyes. A soft smirk curled the edges of his lips. "Would it help?"

"I guess not."

They rode in silence for a time, listening to the thumps and watching the flashes as the VTOLs and the rest of the JSSDF harassed the Angel. Once in a while a particularly loud explosion would catch his attention, and he'd open his eyes a bit, then quietly close them again.

"Don't you want to know why you're here?"

"I know why I'm here."

"You do? How?"

"I don't know he sent for me, but I know why I'm here." He looked out the window. "Why are they pulling back?"

She followed his gaze and saw the aircraft buzzing around the titanic creature, glimpsed here and there through passes in the hills, huge and looming, as they darted away, moving in all directions at speed. They were putting distance between themselves and the hulking, humanoid form of the Angel. That implied something disturbing.

They were about to drop something bit on it.

"They're going to use an N2 mine!"

She wheeled the car off the road and down a grassy hill. As it slowed she started to throw herself to shield Shinji out of pure instinct, but he reacted first, putting his body between her and the sudden flash of white, shocking her with his strength. She had a few inches of height on him, but he was so _dense,_ like someone had twisted thick metal cables around his bones. The car bounced and rolled and a roar soaked into her ears, and she wasn't sure if it was the blast or her own blood pumping.

"Are you okay?" they both said at once.

Misato blinked. Then she blushed, and pushed him off of her, gently. She looked around. Her goddamn car was lying on its side. She slapped the steering wheel with the underside of her fist. "Damn it, I only have two more payments left! We should…"

He'd already climbed out his side, and reached in with both arms to offer her a hand. She twisted, got herself seated sideways, and took his arms, latching onto his forearms. She couldn't close her fingers around them, and when he took hold of her, it almost hurt, and she could feel he was holding back. She blinked a little in surprise as he helped her slip out of the cart and slid an arm under her to help her situate herself on the ground. She took a deep breath and studied the car.

"Shit."

"Let's turn it back over." He said, and without further preamble walked around to the other side.

Hurriedly, she trotted after him. She planted her feet and put her hands to the roof of the car. Before she had a chance to push he said, "No."

"What?"

"Here," he said, and she fought the urge to jump as he ran his hand up the small of her back. "You're rounding your back. You'll hurt yourself. Use your legs. Like this."

She watched as he crouched down in a funny sort of position, holding his back rigidly straight. It made him look like a frog about the jump. He felt along for a good handhold along the edge of the roof and curled both hands under it. She went to join him, but before she could he let out a grunt of effort, pushed into the car, and it started to roll. Hurriedly, she joined him, and it wavered in their hands for a second before he let out another sighing grunt and, with what little help she could give, pushed the car past the tipping point. It landed on its wheels with a sick crunch and rocked on the suspension.

She stood there staring at him for a minute. Her back still felt tingly where he'd touched her, and she couldn't help but notice the way his chest strained against his uniform shirt when he got into his funny little crouch.

_Holy shit, Misato,_ she told herself, _calm down. _

"L-let's go," she said as she slipped back into the car.

He joined her, and reached behind himself to check his bags. He pulled the heavy one down into a better position with a thump.

"What's in there, anyway?"

"Books."

"Oh," she said as she eased out the clutch, trying to work the car back up the hill. "We need to get to headquarters."

"Yes," he said.

The dust cloud thrown up by the exploding weapon had turned the sky a florid pink. Shinji gazed out at the charred form of the creature between the hills. It stood taller than the buildings on the outskirts of the city, a great hulking thing with gangly arms and stumpy legs and big fishy gills on its sides, pumping in and out with great gasps like bellows.

Misato gaped. "It's not dead." She said softly.

"Yes," he said, "but look. It's bleeding."

"So?"

"If it bleeds, we can kill it."

She looked at him for a moment as he stared out the window, and shivered.

* * *

><p>As Ritsuko Akagi pulled herself up onto the edge of the enormous tank of LCL that contained the Evas, she let out a last breath of tangy metallic air and shrugged off the rebreather unit. She could have breathed the LCL if she'd wished, but it tasted bad enough when it was electrolyzed and warmed to near body temperature, and when it was cold, it was like drinking blood. On the practical side, respiring with a liquid required more muscular action and was therefore more fatiguing. That wasn't a problem for the pilots, who would mostly be sitting relatively still, but when swimming in the stuff, it could pose an issue. She wasn't doing it for pleasure, anyway; the commander insisted that Unit One be ready for sortie today, and the right knee joint was still giving them trouble.<p>

As head of Project E, she could leave her rebreather where she damned well pleased, knowing someone else would clean it up. The job had long hours and few perks, but it did have some. After towling off and running through a standing shower to get the majority of the foul smelling gunk off her body and out of her hair, she shrugged into a labcoat and headed for the nearest elevator, which opened to reveal Misato Katsuragi and, she surmised, the new pilot.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ritsuko blurted. "Aren't you supposed to be in the command center?"

"I got a little lost," Misato said sheepishly. "Hey! Meet the new pilot!"

Ritsuko was a scientist. She observed and drew conclusions. She knew the boy was going to be the commander's son. She'd read the psychological profile, and she had an understanding of why all of the pilots were so psychologically disturbed, barring Rei, who was, of course, a special case. She did not expect the calm, quiet presence he had, his obvious physical conditioning, or the fact that he was all but openly checking her out, especially her legs, though he kept his mouth shut.

"You must be Shinji."

"Yes."

"is that all he says?" she smirked at Misato.

"No," he interrupted.

"Follow me," Ritsuko said as she turned, less than annoyed than she'd anticipated when she felt the boy's eyes on her.

He quickly started looking around; all of this must have been strange to him. On the far side of the huge room, the shoulder pylon and upper arm of Unit One were visible, still engaged in the huge lock. As Misato and the boy followed her up towards the main section of the cage where the entry plug was accessed, she cursed her superiors and their insistence on everything being so melodramatic. The lights were shut off and for no real reason. She stopped in the center of the collapsible bridge, listened to the gurgling of the rapidly draining LCL for a moment, and then gave the signal for the lights to come on.

Unit One and the boy were face to face. He stood stock still and, to her satisfaction, his eyes widened a little in surprise. The massive demonic visage seemed to overwhelm him for a moment, until he resumed his calm mask and whispered, "_Crom_."

"Excuse me?" said Misato.

"Nothing. What is this thing?"

"This is the last hope of humanity," Ritsuko said, pride in her voice. She was head of the project, after all. "The artificial humanoid, Evangelion Unit One."

"Why have you brought me here?"

"You are to be its pilot," a voice called from high above.

Shinji started, ever so slightly, and slowly looked up, his breathing becoming measured. Ritsuko could feel the tension coming off of him, radiating in waves like heat. That part of the profile had been correct, but still, she hadn't thought him to be so… _intense._

"It's been a while," the older man said, a note of amusement in his voice.

"You want me to pilot this." Shinji replied. It wasn't a question, so much as a simple statement of fact.

"Yes. Will you?"

The boy smirked, almost imperceptibly, as he said, "Yes."

Ritsuko had not seen the commander express surprise very often. He was a measured man, a man of plans and schemes and plots all laid out down to the last detail, down to the last contingency. His eyebrows climbed upwards a bit, though it would take a skilled observer to notice.

"Good," he said, and turned and vanished.

"Well," said Ritsuko. "Let's get you ready. We can't fit you for a plugsuit yet, so you'll have to make due with nerve clips."

Shinji looked at her for a moment, and smiled that subtle smile again.

* * *

><p>Misato let out a deep breath and, where no one could see her, slumped down against the wall and sank to the floor. She'd trained for this for years, helped train the Second Child in Germany before transferring here, and focused her entire life on this for almost half of her existence. She hadn't thought that she would be terrified the entire time.<p>

The wheels were still spinning. She'd barely had to direct the kid. Ritsuko told him to take it easy and try walking just before he ignored her and started _running_, pushing the huge machine across the city like an extension of his body. His synch ratio was nearly forty-nine percent; all they'd had to do was explain it to him and he took to it like a fish to water. She said something about his workout regimen helping; he had a high awareness of his body or something like that. She'd have to talk to him, find out why he'd taken the progressive sword from the armaments building when there was a gun right next to it, but so far it had worked out for the best. The kid was a natural.

It scared her a little. He was enjoying it. He didn't have any real technique- his knowledge of swordplay apparently consisted of "hit it with the sharp bits", but that was enough. He took the thing's arm off at the elbow when it tried to grab the Eva, stabbed it through the leg, and almost cut the core out before stabbing the sword right through it, and he was screaming the whole time. Not in fear, but in a kind of feral joy that contrasted with his calm demeanor he'd held from the moment they'd met.

She shuddered. There were two possibilities. He was either some sort of warrior god, or he was completely, totally insane. She wasn't sure what scared her more, those options, or the fact that she really didn't care either way so long as he continued to perform. She sat for a long few minutes, just breathing.

They'd killed one of them. It was dead. They killed an angel.

"Dad," she whispered.

She let out a long, ragged sigh and then stood up, and head down towards the Eva cage. When she arrived, she found an amused Ritsuko coordinating the repair efforts. There was only superficial damage to the Eva, a long scratch down the faceplate over the left eye, sort of a giant robot dueling scar. Misato stood next to her old friend for a minute.

"He said we should leave that," Ritsuko said, her voice wavering between amusement and concern. "he liked the way it looks."

"Are you?"

"Oh hell no," she said. "The Committee would have my job."

Silence followed.

"He scares me a little."

"I know," said Misato. "the psych profile is a joke. Where is he, anyway?"

"He took a shower as soon as he got out, then he asked where the gym was. He's down there now. I told him we'd debrief him in an hour."

"Seriously? The kid pilots a giant robot for the first time, kills a giant monster and gets gore all over said giant robot, and his first words are 'where's the gym'? He may actually _be_ crazy."

"I hope not," Ritsuko said. "If he is unstable, he could easily go into some kind of fugue. The last thing we need is a depressed pilot holed up in a closet somewhere."

"Where is he going to live, anyway? Is he staying with the commander?"

Ritsuko snorted a laugh. "Are you kidding me? Those two? You read the profile, this was the first time they've spoken to each other in years."

"So, where, then?"

"He'll have on base housing, I guess. There's a dozen little apartments still empty down here."

Misato tapped her finger to her chin.

"Misato," Ritsuko said. "You're not thinking what I think you're thinking."

"I am thinking what you think I'm thinking. I'm going to go see what the commander thinks about what you think I'm thinking."

"What?"

"Exactly," Misato waved as she headed towards the elevators.

Gendo Ikari sat like a spider in the center of his web, his face illuminated by the glowing etching over his head, the only source of light in the cavernous office he occupied. It spoke of several things at once- intimidation, power, and the ability to force all of his actual work on his subordinates, since every time Misato had been in here, he was never actually _doing_ anything. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to his steepled hand as she spoke.

"…that's why I'd like to invite him to live with me. For his psychological health."

The man stared at her impassively for a moment, then angled his head just enough to obscure his eyes behind the reflection on his sunglasses. Did he practice at that, or what?

"Very well," He said.

She stood there staring for a moment, then turned around and left. She was fairly sure he hadn't moved even after she walked out. She shuddered a bit after she was out of his line of sight, and had to force herself to admit, there were a lot of things around here that unnerved her, it seemed.

Ritsuko was right. She found him in the gym. NERV had a fairly spacious staff workout area setup, but for now it was mostly deserted in the post-battle let down. There would be a lot of parties, she suspected, and now here she was, not attending any of them. It would be dangerous to fraternize with her subordinates, but still.

He was standing in a squat rack in a simple white t-shirt and warm up pants. The back of his shirt was slick with sweat, and there was fog on the mirror behind the rack in front of him. He leaned forward, his hands resting on a barbell loaded with a pair of plates that looked too big for him to even pick them up. She thought about saying something, but he didn't seem to notice her, so she leaned against the door frame and watched. He walked up under the bar, adjusted his hands, and rested it on his collarbone, then took a step back. He put his legs apart a little, one a bit forward of the other, and with a grunt muscled the bar up into the air, slowly lowered it, and then explosively repeated the motion until he was panting, then racked it again and stood leaning against it. She walked up behind him.

She tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey."

He turned around and pulled a pair of earbuds out of his ears.

"What are you listening to?"

"A movie soundtrack."

"Oh. Are you ready to go home?"

"No one has told me where I'll be staying, yet."

"I was," she took a breath, "I was thinking you could stay with me. That way you won't be alone."

He looked at her for a minute. She hadn't seen him confused before. It was kind of cute. "Would that be okay?"

"Sure! I'd rather you not live by yourself. This place can get overwhelming at times."

"I have to finish here," he said, and turned back to the bar.

"Okay. I have some paperwork to do. They wanted to debrief you, but I got you out of it. Tomorrow."

He nodded, then took up position under the bar.

"I'll be in my office, upstairs."

The mountain of paperwork she found displeased her greatly. What the hell was all of this? The commander might have had room for his office to double as an emergency shelter, but between her swamped desk and her chair, hers looked more like a closet. It was as if her position was some kind of joke, and the office a window dressing. She let out a sigh.

Shinji appeared in her doorway. He tapped one knuckle loosely on the frame, and she looked up. She hadn't even dented the pile of papers on her desk. She let out a long sigh, ruffling some carbon copied report in front of her.

"You have a lot of work. Should I come back?"

"No," she said, standing up. "It can wait."

They walked in silence as they headed for her car. He'd freshly showered and it made her feel a little rumpled herself; she hadn't had the time for such luxuries. He rode in silence beside her, staring out the cracked window at the city streets, the power lines, the night sky. It must have all been very new to him, with his rural upbringing.

"How do you like it?"

"How does the wind ever get in here?" he whispered.

"Uh, what?"

"Nevermind," he said. "It's different."

"Yeah," she said, and gave up on conversation for a while.

With a sigh she pulled up to the convenience store near her apartment and got out. He followed without complaint, and he didn't seem to mind carrying all of her purchases, either. The store clerks were having a conversation about moving away, and she almost told them to knock it off. She didn't want him unnerved. He didn't seem to care, though.

She carried the food up to the apartment, and he carried his bags. Once she opened the door, she stepped to the side, and let him stand at the threshold. He stood there for a moment, looking down at the line where the dull gray carpeting in the hallway was cut off from the linoleum tile of her foyer. He took a breath and stepped over it.

"I'm home."

"Welcome home!"

* * *

><p>Author's Note: I fixed a minor continuity issue with the time of Shinji's arrival, which would have place it a week before it actually happened. Oops.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

In all the commotion, no one had noticed that Rei had returned to school, and that suited her just fine. She was still feeling an ache in her wounded arm in its cumbersome sling, and the bandages and medical eyepatch she was forced to wear irritated her greatly. She let none of this show, of course, instead studying the tree out in the courtyard, beyond the classroom. She never once wondered why she was forced to attend school with the rest of these children, for it was the word of the Commander and thus inviolate. She did incline her head slightly to the new pilot, the Commander's son, as he walked past her and sat down in an empty seat.

Rei had heard, or rather read, of people possessing an innate ability to know when they were being watched. Metaphors were employed to describe this phenomenon, such as the interested party's eyes boring or drilling into one's skin, or feeling the gaze of another person. She had never considered what those sensations actually meant, that they could be a real thing, until she realized that Shinji Ikari was looking at her.

He was not his father, and yet they were remarkably similar. He moved with a casual sort of confidence, as if his body compressed within itself enormous potential and he knew it. When he sat down behind her he did not lean lazily or affect a casual posture, he simply was, radiating a calm sense that he sat the way he did because he felt like it, and for no other reason. He pulled out the pristine school laptop he'd been issued and slowly opened it, watching her all the while. She gradually turned until she could see him more clearly, gaze at him under the bangs of her silvery-blue hair. She had always maintained the most functional haircut- long enough to identify her as a girl yet not so long as to require extensive styling or get in her eyes. Similarly, she avoided her schoolmates' inane attempts at makeup when they were outside the classroom and ignored such things as perfume or jewelry.

For some reason, when he looked at her, she felt an unusual sensation. Without quite knowing why, she lifted her good hand and flicked some of her hair out of her eye, although it did not really need it. She subsequently stared at her hand for a moment, earning a few curious stares from some of the less subtle classmates in the room around her. She quickly resumed her normal posture. The teacher, an elderly man with poor eyesight, seemed to be considering why she had not opened her laptop to take notes, but ignored her and began to drone on about whatever topic would ultimately digress into Second Impact in today's inane lecture.

She continued to observe him from the corner of her eye. He was doing something on the laptop, his brows furrowing slightly as he clicked around, probably working out the basics of the operating system and logging himself in. He sat back in surprise slightly, probably as one of the dozen hacked chat programs opened on his laptop. He considered the screen for a moment, typed in a terse reply, and then looked around, not necessarily in surprise, per se, but with a certain amusement as every single member of the class save Rei herself and the Suzahara boy leapt to their feet. Even Horaki, the shrill and irritating class representative, was on her feet, berating the other students for their lack of respect.

From their questions, Rei was quick to deduce the nature of the conversation. Someone had asked him if he was the pilot of Unit One and he had replied in the affirmative. She would have to inform the Commander. Likely, no disciplinary action would be taken; she had never been explicitly instructed not to reveal her status, and she doubted that he had, either. Nevertheless, it was something of a breach of protocol. After several minutes of his terse refusal to answer their questions with anything more than monosyllabic affirmation or denial and the occasional "I don't know," Horaki finally got the class back into their seats. The teacher never particularly noticed.

Every student in the class continued to stare at him. Rei noticed that the majority of her female classmates had flushed faces, and their eyes were unable to settle on his face, or any one particular area of his anatomy, for that matter. After some consideration, she concluded that they were "checking him out". Curious as to why, she did the same thing. He was in remarkable physical condition for a boy their age, that was sure. He probably needed to purchase a slightly larger shirt, for that matter. She considered noting this in her report to the Commander on his behavior. She decided not to, as he might draw an incorrect conclusion about her interest in his anatomy.

Something about that decision startled her, but she could not say what. She realized that she, too, had color in her cheeks, and that the Aida boy, seated next to Suzahara, was staring at her. Her eyes flicked to him and narrowed.

He looked to the taller boy next to him. "These are the end times," he whispered.

Rei did not understand the connection between her blushing and the prophesied biblical apocalypse. She considered that he knew something of the Scenario and decided to pursue this line of inquiry further, but with a great deal of skepticism. Also, she was staring at Shinji again and did not know why. She quickly turned, rested her hand on her palm, and stared out at her favorite tree.

It was markedly less interesting.

The day continued without incident, with the exception to the delayed reaction to the lunch bell as the portion of the class still staring at and chatting about Shinji moved more slowly than usual. When he realized the bell indicated dismissal from the class, he stood and walked out without ceremony, small lunch box under his arm. Rei slowly rose and, avoiding being jostled by the press of the student body leaving the room, walked towards the courtyard.

She paused when she saw Aida and Suzahara approaching Shinji, who sat on one of the concrete steps shoveling what appeared to be cottage cheese into his mouth, and occasionally sipping from a container of liquid. He closed the cap on his beverage and took the last bite of his food as the two boys approached, and rose.

"Hey," Suzahara called. "Hot shot. What do you think you're doing poaching all the girls?"

Shinji said nothing. Aida slowed his step and looked around warily, as if he expected trouble. Rei looked around and noted the distant Section 2 detail, who would step in to prevent grievous harm to Shinji's person if he were assaulted. She had a feeling they would not be necessary.

Suzahara had several inches of height on him, and loomed over Shinji when he stopped, fists planted on his hips. "I asked you a question, new kid."

Shinji remained silent. He looked up at the taller boy and squared himself. Rei noticed that his back flexed slightly, but this did not appear to be some sort of affectation.

"Don't make me hit you," said Suzahara. "I always hit the new guys."

Shinji leaned forward almost imperceptibly and said, very softly, "Don't start something you're not prepared to finish."

Suzahara blinked in surprise and rocked back on his heels as if he'd been nudged backwards. Rei tilted her head as she observed. His reaction was curious; he grew flushed, and his body posture changed. He began laughing, nervously at first, and then more jovially as Shinji, to her surprise, joined him. Aida stared at them both as if they were insane. When their chucklings subsided, Shinji said, "I'm Shinji."

"Toji."

"Excuse me," said Shinji. "I have something to do."

He scooped up his box and his drink and took another long sip, then started walking towards her. She evaluated him for a moment, her eyes occasionally flicking to the two boys behind him, who were commenting between themselves about his actions, too softly to be heard. He upended and finished his drink as he neared her, and she realized that her heart was beating slightly faster, enough that she could feel it in her chest.

"Are you Rei?"

"Yes."

"Misato told me about you. You're hurt."

"I will heal."

"That which does not kill you makes you stronger."

She considered his words for a moment. The cadence of his voice suggested they were a quotation. She was about to ask him where he had heard this phrase when he said, "Who did this to you?"

"No one did this to me. I was injured in the activation test of Unit Zero."

"I see. My father-"

"Saved my life." She cut him off curtly.

"You don't sound happy about that."

She was about to tell him that she was indifferent when the alert siren spooled up, and the phone in her pocket began to ring. She pulled it out and listened to the pre-recorded message. He simply glanced at his own phone and slipped it back into his pocket.

"We must report to headquarters. They will send a car."

He said nothing, falling naturally in step beside as she walked to the rendezvous point where the armored Section 2 limousine would retrieve them. Nervertheless, she felt a certain quiet calm radiating from him, and yet his right hand flexed and unflexed, his fingers working nervously.

She noticed the tic and said, "Does being asked to pilot again upset you?"

"No," he said flatly. "That's not it."

She did not ask him for clarification, preferring the silence as they rode in the back of the car.

* * *

><p>"I don't think this is a good idea," Kensuke said for the ninth time as they headed up the tunnel from the shelter to the hillside overlooking the school.<p>

"I can't believe she bought that line about using the bathroom," Toji replied, ignoring his plea. "Hikari can be so oblivious sometimes."

Kensuke snorted. Toji batted the back of his head.

"Do you think he's really the pilot?"

"Yeah." Said Kensuke. "Sure, why not? The giant robot shows up, he shows up, it makes perfect sense."

"Yeah, but you'd think they'd use, you know, an adult or something. The idea of a kid trying to pilot it is kind of weird."

"I want to know who designed the emergency shelters without bathrooms."

The sun was soon to set, and when the two young men set eyes on the creature coming over the hills into the city, they both froze. Kensuke glanced at his friend and realized they were probably thinking the same thing. This was a mistake.

It was long and serpentine, its body the color of a livid bruise. It glided over the rooftops of the buildings that hadn't retracted, emitting a curious keening sound as it did. Its upper body resembled a caterpillar, with many tiny waving legs, and two long whips of light that danced to and fro in front of it. It had markings on its upper body not unlike the false eyes of some types of moths, with no visible facial features except for the outline of a plague doctor mask on its back. It was long and sinuous and snakelike, and curled up like a cobra before crying out and lashing with its whips, neatly dividing a skyscraper in front of it with an x-shaped cut that sent it tumbling to the ground below.

The robot emerged. It was bigger than he thought. He'd seen specifications listed on a bulletin board that put it at eighty meters, but it looked closer to one hundred. There was something bestial and graceful about the Evangelion as it moved, stomping away from the platform where it had ridden a set of retracting rails to the surface.

It did something they did not expect.

It screamed.

The Evangelion threw back its head and let out a thundering, high pitched wail, like some sort of antediluvian sea serpent in its death throes. The roar mingled somehow, a lower, lesser sound warbling through it and intertwining with it, like a dissonant note in a piano chord. It sounded disturbingly human. When the sound rippled over Kensuke he stiffened, and he saw as Toji did the same his eyes widening. He practically felt the sudden dump of adrenalin into his system as it skipped fight or flight and went straight into naked terror, the sort that simply froze them in place like statues.

The realization hit him immediately. This was wrong. These things were not part of the world. They did not belong here. He fought conflicting urges as he watched them move, the desire to watch and the desire to run away. Neither he nor Toji spoke.

The Evangelion dropped into a crouch and sprinted forward, cable trailing behind it like a tail. The burning whips wrapped around and around it, and smoke and steam rose up where they touched. The Evangelion let out a reverberating grunt and shoved the monster backwards, towards the Ashii lakes. It planted a hand on either side and drug it to the ground, flipping it over like a wrestler. They dropped into the ground together as the Evangelion mounted it and began pounding with its fists. The creature let out a scream and bucked underneath it, trying frantically to shake off its attacker. It wrapped the whips around the Eva's throat, and the machine grabbed them both with one hand, twisted them around its fist, and pulled.

The creature's scream as they tore free echoed across the valley. Kensuke was on his hands and knees before he even realized it. He fought down bile in this throat, and forced himself to look, to see. He watched the Evangelion tear the angel apart, pull it into great meaty pieces that it threw over its shoulder, almost casually, until the thing went still. The Eva lifted a great red sphere in one hand, lifted it high overhead, and smashed it down, shattering it across its own knee.

Toji was shivering. "Let's go back inside."

"Yeah."

* * *

><p>"My God," Fuyutsuki whispered. The replay of the action from the point of view of the pilot's gun camera aboard the Evangelion turned Gendo's expansive office red as he spoke.<p>

"Yes," Ikari said flatly, leaning back in his chair.

Fuyutsuki looked away. "Enough, turn it off."

"This is completely at odds with his psychological profile. It's only two years old. He should be timid, reserved."

"By the look of it," Fuyutsuki opened his eyes as Gendo slid the screen back into his desk, "we're lucky he didn't start _eating_ it."

"The most disturbing news comes from Akagi, not the action footage. Did you see the synch reports?"

"Yes. Intermittent feedback on the primaries. He and the Evangelion are feeding into each other. Do you think he's contaminated?"

"Unlikely. We would have detected it by now. "

Gendo turned his chair around to face out his window, and propped his chin on one hand. "Our intention was that his emotional distress would awaken her when he lost consciousness, but this, it's as if he's bringing her near to awareness without losing consciousness himself. A controlled berserk."

"The Committee will not be pleased," Fuyutsuki mused.

"They are already displeased. They've begun pestering me about budgets. The damage to Unit One is superficial and the damage to the city itself is fairly contained, but everything within blocks of the battle was obliterated."

Fuyutsuki sighed and turned to join his pupil.

"What do we do?"

"He can be controlled. He will form attachments we can manipulate. If worse comes to worst, there is the secondary scenario."

"Kyoko's girl? She's as bad as he is, in her own way."

"Superficially, but her pathology is much more… pliant. She craves attention. He apparently craves tearing living things apart, with his bare hands."

Both men shuddered.

"Does he know? Does he remember somehow?"

"Perhaps. If he does, I can use that to my advantage. I won't be outsmarted by a fourteen year old."

* * *

><p>Misato was still shaking, and had to hold her own hand when she went looking for him. Again, he'd eluded her after the battle. She expected to find him in the weight room again, but he wasn't there. One of the technicians told her he'd already finished there and had apparently headed to the Section 2 barracks. She was a little disturbed by what she found.<p>

Shinji, in his school uniform sans belt and shoes, was rolling with the Section 2 agents. Literally. The combat instructor was taking him through the basics of their combat system, based on the one used by the United States Marines, much to the amusement of the gathered agents, who all looked remarkable less impressive without their black suits and sunglasses. As she watched, the instructor took him through the basics, and she felt a little queasy when she realized the movement he was learning would be perfect for gouging out an eye. He noticed her, said something to the instructor who nodded, and then bowed politely, pointedly keeping his eyes on the man. No doubt they'd already been through that clichéd exchange.

He trotted over to her, carrying his shoes in hand.

"What are you doing here?" she said.

He seemed a little brighter than usual. "I got bored with 'center the target, pull the switch'."

"I like your initiative," she said, then chewed her lip in thought.

He seemed fine, as he slipped into his shoes and put on his belt. He seemed quite at ease, actually, the way a cat carries itself walking in the sun. If he had a tail, it would have been arched up defiantly. He damn near strutted as he walked beside her to the elevator. He pressed the button before she even had a chance and leaned confidently against the wall. Something about his manner seemed oddly familiar, and there was the way he was wearing his hair.

She caught herself. _No. _That is just _weird_.

"I'm supposed to chew you out," she said, and it came out a little higher pitched than she'd intended. "You disobeyed my orders. Sort of."

"You said 'attack'." He said, smirking.

"I meant shoot it. Not… that. You attacked that thing like it was going out with your sister."

"I don't have a sister."

She glared at him. "You know what I mean. I hate them as much as anybody, but…"

"I don't hate them."

"You… you don't? You sure act like you do. I think that thing was afraid of you."

"Good," he said.

The elevator clicked, and the doors opened. She sighed. "Go ahead home. I'll be there in an hour or so. I've got to fill out some forms."

"Okay."

She watched him walk away, then reluctantly pushed the button to close the doors. Her hand was still shaking a little. He was genuinely starting to worry her. She hovered over the button that would take her to the floor where her own office resided, thought better of it, and went to see Ritsuko instead. She found her old friend hunched over some report or other. She sat down in a chair backwards, and immediately started spinning in lazy circles.

Ritsuko sighed. "Don't you have work to do?"

"Yeah," she said.

"You're not doing it."

"Your powers of observation astound me. We should nominate you for the Nobel Prize."

"They should, actually," Ritsuko said, slyly.

"Oh shut up," Misato snapped.

Ritsuko sat up, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her fingertips. "What's wrong?"

"I'm worried about Shinji."

"I'll say," Ritsuko snorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, so far, every time _I've_ seen him you've been mooning over him like a teenager with a crush." Ritsuko smirked.

"That is _not_ true!"

"Is too."

"Is not!"

"Is too."

"Now who's being immature?"

"Touché."

"You saw what he did today," Misato stopped spinning the chair. "It scared me a little. I didn't expect him to be so… nasty with it."

"I'm a little concerned myself," Ritsuko admitted. "We need to watch him carefully."

"Oh?"

"When he pilots the Evangelion, he synchs with it. His mind merges with it a little bit. Part of the danger is that the Eva will mess with his mind."

"Yeah, yeah, contamination, I know. You said he's clean."

"He is. I don't think we anticipated the pilot being so… intense. I've gone over Asuka's performance, and it's different. She's more precise, controlled. It fits her personality. Shinji's psych profile describes him as depressed and listless with an inferiority complex. How did he turn into a raging berserker?"

"I should probably ask him," said Misato. "Maybe I should get him drunk."

Ritsuko eyed her.

"I'm kidding!"

"Sure you are," she turned back to her reports. "Just remember he _is_ the Commander's son. I'm not bailing you out on this one."

"Bitch," Misato muttered with a smirk.

Ritsuko waved her away. "Begone. I have repair orders to sign off on."

With a sigh, Misato briefly considered actually doing her work. However, the post-battle euphoria was still within her, and she decided, based on a reasonable set of principles, to go home and get drunk instead. She put thoughts of Shinji's mental condition from her mind and half skipped to her car. Paperwork and crazy pilot and creepy bosses aside, she knew one thing: another one of the bastards was dead.

The light was on in the apartment when she pulled into the parking lot. Sometimes, it bothered that they had the whole building to themselves. She wasn't worried about crime, it was just a little weird to come home to an empty building every day. Hopfully, after the war, more people would move in. It would be the new capital, after all. She felt a strange pang when that thought crossed her mind. Some part of her believed the war would end.

"I'm home," she said with a yawn as she walked into the apartment.

"Welcome home," Shinji replied. He was sitting in the living room, reading a book. A quick glance at the cover told her it wasn't schoolwork, but she let it slide. He'd earned it. Besides, from the dishes piled up in the sink, he'd already fed Pen Pen, her penguin. The kid kept up on the chores.

She slipped into the kitchen, cracked open her first beer, and sat down at the table, a sudden rush of tiredeness falling on her like a weight, as if it would drag her down to the floor. The beer's biting bitterness brought her back around as she drained it halfway. She glanced at Shinji, and worry bubbled through her mind once again.

"Hey kid," she said. "C'mere."

He looked up from his book, studied her blankly for a bare second, and then gently set it aside on the couch before padding over to her.

"Yes?"

"What'cha reading?"

"Philosophy."

"Sounds boring. Want some beer?"

He tilted his head. "I'm too young."

"Not with adult supervision." She smirked, waving the can in front of his face.

He snatched it from her. "Fine."

He took a short sip, then a longer, slower pull, his brows furrowing. He handed the empty can to her and stood there for a moment, his eyes darting here and there, in thought. Then he belched. Misato burst out laughing and stood up, heading for the refrigerator. She grabbed two beers this time and headed for the couch. "You can have your own. Just one, though. Will it bother you if I watch TV while you read?"

"No," he said, taking the beer. He cracked it open, took a drink, then set it on the floor while he picked up his book and curled his legs under himself. Misato went into her bedroom, changed, and plopped down on the other end. Shinji continued to read intently, taking a drink now and then. A while after he'd finished, the book dropped out of his hands as he fell asleep. She slipped a piece of paper in to mark his page and put it on the side table, then pulled a blanket out of the closet to cover him. He was too heavy to move. Before she went to bed herself, she brushed the hair out of his eyes.

"Mom," he whispered.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: I noticed a minor continuity error in Chapter 2, which stated that Shinji came to school the day after he arrived and when segued to the same events "One Week Earlier". That has now been corrected.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Rei emerged from her shower and discovered Shinji standing in her bedroom. Bedroom, perhaps, was not the correct word; her apartment essentially was a bedroom, with a small kitchen alcove and an equally cramped lavatory sharing a wall with it. It was plain, dilapidated, and utterly sufficient. It was the essence of the philosophy of the Commander, which was her own. She walked out of the small bathroom with her towel draped over her shoulder, having mostly dried herself before she emerged. She would allow her hair to dry in the air as she dressed.

She was, of course, wearing nothing _but _the towel.

He looked at her in a sort of dull surprise for a moment, and then as if his body had suddenly allocated more blood to his brain, blushed and snapped his vision away from her, pressing his eyes tightly shut.

"I didn't meant to walk in you." he said, softly. "Your doorknob was broken. I was afraid someone had broken in."

She looked at him askance for a moment. "Why?"

"They might hurt you."

"So?"

"What do you mean, _so?_" he said sharply. He opened his eyes, blushed deeply again, and immediately pressed them shut again. "Please put on some clothes."

She said nothing as she complied, slipping first into a pair of panties and then into her crisply starched uniform shirt. It was itchy and uncomfortable, but it was also required. When she turned as she pulled her jumper up over her shoulders, she realized that he was looking in her closet.

"Don't you have anything else to wear?"

At some point while her back was turned, he had opened his eyes. He stood in front of her small wardrobe, lifting one of her spare uniforms in his hand, pressing the fabric between his fingers. He released it and turned back to her as she started pulling on her socks.

"I do not require other clothing."

"What do you sleep in?" he said, a note of curiosity in the question.

"Nothing."

He made a sound not unlike a sneeze, which was a mixture of guffaw, alarmed snort, and laugh. She could see him blushing again. Now that he had seen her absent clothing he no doubt had sufficient mental imagery to imagine her sleeping in the nude. He clearly was, judging by the deep blush he showed. What made her curious was why she was blushing herself, and had instinctively raised her hand to brush her hair. He looked at her palm for a moment before shaking her head ever so slightly and standing up.

She saw the glasses.

He held the Commander's glasses in his hand. When her eyes fell on them his fingers clenched, and she heard them creak. She was unsure of why she kept them, only that he had discarded them after the failed test of Unit Zero and she picked them up, rescuing them from the incinerator. They held no meaning to him, but to her, though she was not sure, precisely of what it was. She did not want Shinji to crush them.

She reached to snatch them out of his hand. He moved with an instinctive, feline grace, pulling back just before she touched him. His expression, hard and fixed, softened a bit and he offered the glasses to her.

"Sorry," he said. "Are these my father's?"

"He threw them away."

"I came to give you your new identification card," he said, retrieving it from his pocket. "Your old one won't work."

She took it without a word.

He looked at her for a moment as if expecting her to say something and then walked out with a glance at the glasses, now held in her hand. She watched him close the door and then followed after herself, not checking to see if it remained closed or not. She made not special effort to catch up to him as he headed down the stairs, but ended up walking alongside him anyway. He seemed to slow his pace to match hers, but she was not sure; he was not obviously making an effort to do so.

She walked through the stairwell, her patent leather shoes making tiny ringing sounds on the metal stairs. The stairwell smelled of brackish water and corroded metal, and their steps echoed. Shinji took note of a long water stain one wall and said, almost to himself, "Why do you have to live like this?"

She did not reply to him. The only consideration he gave her as the left the building was holding the door open. She walked out in front of him and he fell in step beside her again. After a while, she glanced in his direction and said, "Why are you walking with me?"

"I'm not. We're going to the same place."

She did not reply.

"This place looked dangerous."

She did not reply to that either. Finally, he said, "The day my father burned his hands. Those glasses?"

She looked at him, but did not reply. She felt no need to confirm his suspicions.

"We're testing Unit Zero today."

Again, he stated the obvious, as if anticipating a reply. She examined him for a moment through the corner of her eye and said, "Yes."

This was apparently sufficient to provoke him into continuing conversing with her. "It hurt you before."

"Yes."

"If it hurts you today, I'll tear it apart."

She stopped. "You are ascribing agency to it."

He looked at her for a minute.

"You are talking about it as if it is alive," she clarified.

He continued to stare at her. She stared back at him, and her eyes narrowed. Why was he staring at her? Her statement made perfect sense.

"You can _talk_," he said, the corners of his lips curling.

She blinked. She considered his words for a moment. She had already had two conversations with him, and had in fact favored him with more conversation than she normally would. Of course she could talk.

"You are making a joke," she surmised.

"You could try _laughing at it._"

"It is not funny."

For some reason, this provoked him to break out in boisterous laughter, so much so that he had to hold his sides and it broke his pace as he continued to walk. After what seemed like several minutes, he subsided with a few chuckles. Fortunately, they were nearing the entrance to headquarters, with its irrationally long escalators. Rei would have much preferred an elevator. They tended to move faster.

She used her new card to gain access and he followed her, standing a few steps behind on the escalator. He leaned on the rail with a sort of easy confidence, and each time she looked back at him, she caught his gaze and instinctively turned away and stiffened. The reason for this behavior did not occur to her, as nothing on a conscious level dictated it. She made a note of this and to ask the Commander, later, the significance of his behavior as well as he fixation on adjusting her hair in his presence.

When they reached the Eva cage, he went off to the boy's locker room.

"Be careful," he said.

She did not reply. It didn't matter. She could be replaced.

She changed into her plugsuit, leaving her uniform heaped on the floor. It was clean, and as no one else used the locker room, there was no reason to put the items into her locker itself. As she walked out onto the gantry to approach Unit Zero she Unit One. Its head tracked her slowly, the sounds of its movement, servos winding and artificial muscles pumping, filled the vast cavern. Without apparent cause, her plugsuit suddenly felt very tight, and her gait changed. She unconsciously drew her legs tighter together and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Rei?" the Commander said.

She stopped and turned to him. "You appear concerned. Are you nervous?"

He meant about the test, so she answered, "No. I can be replaced."

"Indeed you can," he said, off-handedly. "Smile for me, please."

She did. "Yes sir," she said, her voice in a sweet falsetto.

"Good," he smiled back.

His smile was not for her.

She turned and headed for the Evangelion. It stood fixed to the wall, where it had been before, the day of the accident. She climbed up the steps and slid into the plug, and with a deep sigh sat back in the seat, her hands on her lap. She was expecting the cold LCL to flood the plug, and so did not gasp. Instead she waited until it had fully filled the vessel before releasing her breath fully and taking another deep one, then coughing to expel the last of the air with practiced ease. She had spent a great deal of time in LCL. As she listened to the technicians reading through the startup process, she felt the Evangelion reaching for her.

Shinji was correct to ascribe agency to it. It was alive. It was alive and vital, and it hated her. She felt the mind of the thing beneath her slide against hers, press up against it, try to pull her in. Images floated towards her, of herself, smaller and shorter in a red dress, and hands closing around her throat. She could have voiced it, had she wished to, as simply _I hate you._

She felt a shudder in the Eva. A hint of concern entered Akagi's voice. The Commander said nothing. She looked across the cage at Unit One and the onboard systems, literally reading her mind, opened a window in front of her that let her see him. He leaned back, his eyes closed. She had not seen him in a plugsuit before. He was, to use the vernacular, ripped. She thought of the exchange with him on the way to the test this morning.

Something happened. The timbre, the tone of the Eva's contact with her, changed. It was no longer angry. It was… concerned, and the concern quickly turned to fear. The system settled. Third stage connection was reached. The boards were all green.

Then, the Angel attacked. She heard the alarm and jerked, and the connection between her and the Eva went silent around her and she sat in the dark, breathing cold, foul tasting liquid. It was as if she had been forgotten. After what seemed like an eternity in the dark, she heard the systems reactivating, and the colors flashed around her as the system came back on line.

"Rei," said Misato. "I know you weren't expecting this, but we need you. We're going to launch you, and we want you to recover Unit One. It's going to be destroyed if it we don't bring it back."

Rei started in surprise. What had happened? It had only been a few minutes.

"Roger," was all she said as she walked the Evangelion out of the test bay and back into the cage, past the restraints to the launch system. She positioned it against the wall and grunted at the odd sensation as the clamps slid into place, and she was launched in a rush. It thrust her down into the seat and made her take a breath, and when she opened her eyes, she was on the surface.

The Angel was a great gleaming octahedron, looming over the city. It dwarfed the Eva and it dwarfed the nearby buildings, including one that it had melted through. Unit One lay on its side, smoking and heavily damaged. The Angel noticed her, though how she could not say, since it had no features- it seemed to be made of tinted glass.

"Oh _shit!"_ Katsuragi called. "Get her back down here-"

There was a flash. She felt an incredible sense of power, and froze. The Angel drew in on itself, screamed an awful scream, and broke into a hundred thousand shards, and slammed into a great wedge shape with a metallic clang. A beam of light erupted from its tip, aimed straight at her. She wouldn't even have time to scream.

Shinji got up.

Unit One leapt to its feet and the Eva roared, cried out in a basso rumble that made her bones shake. With astonishing speed it slammed into a heavy shield building, hit it so hard it tilted to one side. Her jaw dropped in naked shock.

"Third state connections…" she heard Ibuki shout, her voice rising over the din of cries in her ear, but only briefly, "Berserk! It's going berserk!"

Unit One tore the skyscraper out of the ground, root and branch. Dust drifted from its surface, chips of paint and concrete falling from where Unit One's fingers dug into it. Holding the huge slab over its head, Unit One interposed itself between her and the beam, and the heels of the great machine dug into the street as it was shoved back, almost hitting her. A window flicked open in her sight.

Shinji was bleeding, and half his face was reddened. He ground his teeth and more blood flowered from his mouth, spreading in the LCL in front of his face. He looked her right in the eye.

"Rifle," he shouted, "Get rifle, kill it!"

She snapped out of her reverie and headed for the nearest armament's building, retrieving a pallet rifle as it slid open. The shield Shinji held was crumbling, the surface before his Eva's face turning red hot, soon to be white hot, then to soften and melt. She stepped out from behind him, aimed the rifle, and emptied the magazine. The shells tore great pockmarks in the Angel's surface, all of its power apparently devoted to the beam of energy.

It shrieked. The sound had an electronic distortion to it, like some kind of machine, and it bled somehow, blood appearing at its wounds, just welling up at the rents in its surface without any apparent source. She slammed another magazine in place, aimed for the dark sport of the core, and held the reticle on it as she emptied the gun out yet again. The thing retained its shape but was creaking and groaning, a deep rent torn through its middle, exposing the core.

Shinji, or the Eva, or both, roared in triumph. He took a bounding step, lifted the remnants of his shield, high, and hurled them so hard it pitched the Eva forward, slamming it into the street. A hundred tons of flaming concrete and metal slammed into the angel's core and tore into it a great gout of blood. The thing screamed a final time as it died, its entire body cracking and bending as it fell. Its form softened and flushed into LCL that washed down over them both, up to the Eva's ankles.

She ran to Shinji. At some point during the battle, she'd lost her umbilical, and hadn't even noticed. She rolled Unit One onto its back, crouched, and then hit the emergency eject. It hurt to crawl down the Eva, to half-slide down the rope ladder from the plug, her not-too-old injuries nagging at her as she ran to it.

Unit One's plug projected from its back, kicked out by the emergency recovery system, triggered by the damage. When she pulled open the emergency release valve, it burned her hands, it she pulled them back with a yelp. She stared at her palms for a moment, then grabbed the handles, ignoring the pain, and twisted. She had to put her whole body into it, and hang on for dear life when the door finally came open and LCL washed out over her.

Shinji wasn't moving.

"Ikari?" she said, "Ikari!"

He groaned, and she slipped into the plug. The LCL was still hot, even through her plugsuit. He turned his head. The right side of his face was burns and bruises, and his eye had swelled shut. He bled from a cut over it, the blood coating his cheek. More blood coated his chin, from a split in his lower lip. He managed to open his left eye and cough.

She panicked. Rei panicked. She had no idea what to do, what to say. She raised her hands, and watched them shake in front of her face. She yelped as he grabbed her wrist.

"Are you…" he took a pained breath, "Okay?"

She nodded. There were tears in her eyes. Was this crying? Was she crying? Why would she cry?

"…can't have you…" he wheezed.

She shook her head, unable to grasp his meaning. She slid closer to him.

"You are hurt."

"I noticed that," he managed to choke out.

"I do not know what to do."

He made an odd sound, wincing as he did, but he didn't stop. She realized, with some confusion, that he was laughing. When he stopped, he leaned back in the plug and said, "You could try smiling."

She did.

So did he.

* * *

><p>Misato went into the Commander's office without a gun, ready to strip off her rank insignia and leave. She fully expected to be fired. She stood at attention in front of his desk and was uncomfortably reminded of the way her drill instructors would ogle her in basic. If the creepy old man showed any interest in her body at all, he was hiding it, at any rate. He sat hunched into his hands, studying her, no doubt to savor the dressing down he was about to hand out. She wanted to sigh; if he wanted to embarrass her, he was less likely to fire her.<p>

"You," he said finally, "are being promoted."

She blinked. "What?"

He raised a hand, cutting her off. "You have done a remarkable job. You took a novice pilot and trained him to an unbelievable level of skill in only two weeks. Your plan of weakening the angels' carapace while it drained its energy in the attack, then striking at the core was especially brilliant. Shinji, too, will receive a person commendation. Fuyutsuki is giving it to him now."

"I don't understand."

"Oh," he said smoothly, "it's perfectly obvious."

It wasn't, not to her. Nevertheless, she nodded, and said, "Thank you, sir."

"I do expect you to deal with his… tactical choices. He cannot continue charging into battle with every angel. The risk to Unit One is too great. Is that understood?"

She noted that he pointedly said _Unit One_, not _Shinji. _Nevertheless, she nodded. He didn't feel the need to tell her, apparently, that he was done with her, and so after an awkward pause she turned and walked away while he pulled out some paper and began studying it intently. Fuyutsuki walked into the room as she passed, his face grim. She didn't hear their conversation and didn't much want to, instead breaking into a sprint that took her towards the elevator. She brushed past Ritsuko, knocking some papers out of her hand.

"Hey!"

"Later!" Misato shouted back, darting into the elevator so fast she bounded off the back wall. She tapped her foot as she watched the counter click upwards as she headed for the infirmary. She barged out, elbowing Hyuga out of the way, ignoring him as he stared after her. She stormed into the infirmary over the objections of a dozen doctors and found Shinji's room. She skidded to a stop as Rei walked out, passed her with a nod, and continued on down the hallway. Misato stopped to gape after the uniformed girl for a moment, then rushed into Shinji's room.

He was sitting up in the bed, eating Jell-O. He swallowed a bite and then looked at her. His eye was swollen shut and his lip had been stitched, and there was a bandage around his head, but otherwise he looked fine.

"I'm lucky," he said. "The doctor said I'll have a scar."

He pointed to the bandage.

She stomped over to him and loomed over the bed.

"Are you _crazy?"_

"I have a head injury, but I don't think so."

She planted her fists on her hips. "You were almost _killed, _Shinji."

He took another bite of Jell-O. "No I wasn't. I wanted to finish this, then I can leave. I got a few cuts and bruises."

She realized she was shaking with anger, and clenched her fists, forcing in a deep breath to calm down. She let out an angry sigh and opened her eyes again. She couldn't say, but she had a sneaking suspicion only the pain in his lip and bruised body kept him from breaking out in laughter.

"Father already sent his lickspittle to congratulate me. He said they're promoting you."

"Yeah," she said angrily, "but you shouldn't… that doesn't-"

"We should celebrate," he said, slipping off the bed. "I need to get dressed. Unless you want to watch…"

Her eyes widened, then narrowed in anger. "Young man, I am _not_ done with you. I am your commanding officer. You _will_ obey my orders."

* * *

><p>Gendo watched impassively as Rei finished her report. She omitted nothing, as was her nature, even informing him about her blushing, hair flipping and stolen glances. Fuyutsuki eyed him, expecting a reaction, but there was none. He simply sat in the same position and said "Very good, Rei. You may go."<p>

"Well," the older man said, "this is interesting. She's attracted to him, and he's been flirting with her."

"Yes," Gendo said flatly.

"How should we proceed?"

"It is not a concern. Whatever sense of attachment he feels for her made him more effective in combat, which is the only thing he can do that matters to me."

"If you say so," Fuyutsuki shrugged.

"Rei is not _her_," Gendo said angrily. "Her appearance is merely an aesthetic concern, a coincidence. Nothing more."

"As you say. I must say I am a little surprised you sent me to congratulate the boy."

"How did he receive it?"

Fuyutsuki shrugged. "With a certain indifference. He seemed more interested in his hospital food."

Gendo smiled. "Perfect."

"What?"

"He can hide behind his swaggering all he wants, but he is still the same person. He craves my affection. He hid his reaction, to hide his weakness, as he always does."

"I hope you're right. Katsuragi's promotion mystifies me. Won't the Committee-"

"I took action before they had time to register complaints. What would you rather I tell them, that our operations director can't control the pilots, and that we defeated the creature by sheer luck, or that we have a brilliant commander whose subordinates are already forming a cohesive team? As far as the Committee knows, Katsuragi's quick thinking and Shinji's initiative overcame what would have been a shockingly difficult foe."

Fuyutsuki nodded. "An excellent move."

"He has an attachment to her as well. Keeping her close to him will give us another means of control should he become less tractable."

* * *

><p>Misato's phone rang, and her head was pounding. She sat up in her futon and felt for it, anxious to shut it off before it disturbed Shinji, sleeping off his <em>one <em>beer in his room down the hall. She had barely managed to make it to her own. She hit the 'send' button and put it up to her ear without checking the caller identification.

"This better be important," she snapped. "It's four in the morning."

"Misato?"

She froze. She knew that voice. A little older than the last time she'd seen her, but…

"Asuka?" she said blearily. "How did you get my number?"

"I asked."

"What do you want? I'm trying to sleep."

"The new pilot."

"Yeah?" she said, covering her eyes with her arm. "What about him?"

"How did he-"

"Ugh, I have to work tomorrow. You're the teenager. You call me at four in the morning _your_ time and we'll talk."

"I will," she said, and then without further comment, hung up. Misato dropped her phone and curled her legs to her chest. What the hell did Asuka want with Shinji?


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

It was not Ryoji Kaji's job, precisely, to observe his ward. His charge as her guardian, rather, was to _supervise_ her. Over his many and varied objections, the administration of Nerv fully believed she was almost as fully functional as an adult. They had their reasons. She had been a dedicated and professional component of the program ever since Unit Two had first been constructed, and before, trained almost from birth to pilot it. She'd somehow managed to earn a university degree in biology in the process, and regularly held adult level conversations with staff members about her Evangelion's function, specifications and capabilities. It impress Kaji sometimes.

They didn't see the other parts. No one at Nerv seemed to notice the strange way she looked at the machine, the odd gleam in her eye. She could discuss its features in detail, but that was because she thought of it as toy, not some profound academic interest. To her, her degree served only to establish her adulthood, something so childishly vital to her, and to help her better understand the thing with which she was obsessed. As he leaned against the door of her little cabin, he reflected as he observed her unnoticed. He'd grown up in the horror of Second Impact. He'd never had toys or childish things- he was a child soldier, like her. Now that they could give those things to a lucky few children again, they'd trained this one not to want them.

Two things interested her. Piloting, and being seen as an adult, and these were only vaguely separate. Some might have called it cute the way she was studying her new colleague. He thought it was a little obsessive, and was worried what might happen if she went through all of this, turned herself into this weapon, only to find out someone was better than her. He was wondering if she was thinking the same thing as she sat in a t-shirt and shorts, watching a replay of the battle with the second attacker over and over again, tapping the erase end of a pencil against her chin.

Moments like this were rare. Few people saw Asuka as she really was, rather than some front she put up. Around him, she couldn't help but put on a smug, strutting, coquettish act designed to entice his romantic attentions. It was comical, and in away, reassuring. As long as she was directing it at him, he knew it was just practice, really. After being let down gently so many times there was no way she could take it seriously anymore. He sort of dreaded what might be happening here, if she stumbled into the complex and frightening enterprise that was interacting with teenage boys. He'd seen the tapes himself- he wasn't sure if this Shinji kid was some sort of natural warrior or just out of his mind.

He took a deep breath and walked up to her. It was comforting not to see her trying too hard, as it were. She had her nerve clips by her side and had scooped her red-gold hair up in a loose ponytail to keep it out of her face. She was breathing shallowly, staring intently at the screen. He watched her for a moment more, confused. She was deeply focused on Unit One's hand, replaying the same short clip of footage over and over. She pulled her lower lip down with her pencil for a moment, then made a note.

"It's so _natural,"_ she said.

"What is?"

She practically jumped. He could watch the wheels turn in her head, first the urge to contain her surprise, then to put on her coquette act and start batting eyelashes at him, and then to control her intense need to talk, to discuss and interact over anything related to Evangelions. She settled on the latter as she sank back down, crossing her legs under herself.

"Look at the hand."

He leaned over, keeping his distance as he did, his every movement carefully calculated not to encourage her to slip into seduction mode. He watched the fingers of the armored purple hand flex a bit, then shrugged. "So?"

"That movement, it's unconscious. He's controlling it without even thinking about it."

He stood up. "So?"

She looked at him and rolled her big blue eyes in exasperation. "So," she said, surprisingly girlish, "I can't _do_ that. Every move I make is deliberate. I give commands. He doesn't do it that way."

"Eh," Kaji shrugged. "I suppose there's room for improvement with both of you," he said guardedly. "He could learn a lot from you, I'm sure."

"Of course he could," she snapped, "but that isn't the point. They won't let me see what he's actually doing in the plug. I don't even know what he looks like."

"Oh?" said Kaji, a note of trepidation in his voice.

"I asked Misato to send me a picture or something, but she said they're all classified. Then she started in with some bullshit about having a crush and I hung up on her."

Normally, as her appointed legal guardian, it would befall him to correct her language, but he'd learned a while ago, as everyone who dealt with her eventually did, that doing anything that even remotely implied she was less than an adult would earn her anger. He winced when he realized he'd stayed too long as she let her hair down and started fixing up her nerve clips.

"So," she said in her best, sweetest voice, "Are you going to eat dinner with me tonight?"

He sighed. "I was going to take my meal in the officer's mess, actually. I have a lot of paperwork to do."

She fluttered her eyelids at him in an exaggerated fashion. He was locked in now, he had to play the game.

"You should let your hair down, relax a little. What's so important?"

"Classified," he smirked, turning on the charm. He hated giving her his patented look, but it was the only way to extricate himself from enemy territory, as it were. "I've got to run. Why don't you get some fresh air? It's lovely out on the deck today. You're all cooped up in here."

She shrugged. "Whatever."

She turned back to her recordings, and he slipped out the door. He paused just outside.

"I can't let him be better," she whispered. "I won't."

* * *

><p>Misato took great pleasure in walking into Shinji's room and kicking him. She was gentle, of course. It was mostly a nudge with the ball of her foot. For someone so obsessed with exercise, he sure could sleep. As it was, he made a sort of annoyed groan and rolled over in his futon, dragging his sheets with him as he curled into the corner.<p>

"Go away," he muttered.

"Rise and shine!" Misato beamed. "You're coming with me!"

"Where?" he groaned.

"I'm driving you to school!"

He sat bolt upright and fixed his gaze on her. "What? Why?"

"It's Parent Visitation Day. I don't think your father is coming,"

"Good," he muttered.

"…so It's my job." she finished. "Go get ready."

With a sigh, he jumped to his feet in a smooth, practiced motion, thrusting his arms out in front of his body to balance himself. He creaked a little as he stretched and walked past her to the shower. Asuka had been bugging her constantly about him. She was worried if she sent the girl the pictures she'd ask for, she'd commandeer a helicopter and fly to Tokyo-3 herself. The Pacific Fleet was escorting the Eva from the Russian coast, where it had arrived by rail, and would be within VTOL range in a few days.

His room was neat. He slept on a narrow futon in the corner and the rest of the space was devoted to piles of books and a neatly arranged stack of American comics. He had a lot of reading material on exercise- she supposed that made sense, the collection dominated by a huge self-proclaimed exercise encyclopedia. The books and comics were mostly about someone called Conan- she knew enough English to get the gist of them. He had a few about another character, a fire-haired barbarian girl in a ridiculous chainmail bikini. She couldn't help but laugh at that.

She settled in to eat breakfast. She'd made a point of having her first beer before she tried to wake him up. Going in all bleary-eyed herself would take all the fun out of it. Having had the hair of the dog she needed, she turned to coffee to give herself a little boost of energy. Shinji emerged a few minutes later, in his pants but no shirt, toweling his hair while fixing a plate of fish for Pen Pen, who warbled appreciatively as he started swallowing his food whole. He tossed the towel onto the pile by the bathroom door and fixed up his hair- it was just long enough now that he could tie it back.

"Doesn't anyone at school say anything to you about your hair?" Misato said guardedly, taking a sip of canned coffee.

"Yes," he shrugged as he began mixing up the awful concoction he had for breakfast. He called it 'whey protein', but there was other stuff in it, and sometimes he put a foul tasting powder in it he told her was some sort of freeze dried vegetables.

* * *

><p>Gendo was beginning to regret taking Ritsuko Akagi to bed. One of the many disadvantages of his manipulation of her fragile psyche was that having been intimate with him, she no longer felt the least bit intimidated by his cavernous office or his cadaverous demeanor. Without being properly invited in, she strode up to his desk and nearly threw a heavy stack of manila folders down onto the expansive black surface. The sudden disruption of the zen-like perfection of his furniture annoyed him greatly.<p>

"We need to talk," she announced, planting one hand on her hip.

He remained silent. He'd been through this before. She wasn't expecting an invitation to continue. He merely fixed his gaze on her and waited.

"These are the readings from Unit One's core during the last battle. There are some anomalies."

"Such as?"

"At two points during the battle," she opened the topmost folder and pointed to two spots on the graph, "the core stopped absorbing energy from the umbilical and began to generate it. Here and here, roughly coinciding with Unit Zero's deployment and when the threw the remains of the shield at the angel."

He put his hands on the desk, spread his fingers, and leaned forward, examining the graph. "And?"

"One, that's impossible. Two, the second spike was orders of magnitude stronger than the first. If the Eva generates an energy backflow like this for more than a few seconds, it could fry the umbilical."

"We can replace a length of cable, doctor." Gendo said, his tone flat. She really was beginning to bore him.

"If he can activate it without external power, we'll have no way of controlling it. What if he loses control, or goes rogue?"

"He won't," said Gendo. "His capability to tap into deeper capabilities within the Eva is an asset. As to his loyalty, I control him completely."

She put an unlit cigarette in her mouth, fumbled in her pocket for a lighter, and then gave up, remembering that she wasn't permitted to smoke in here. The cigarette remained, the tip reddening from her lipstick.

"Are you sure? I think you should read the update on his psych profile."

She closed the top folder and slid it off, opening the second one. She turned it around, cradled it on her forearms like a book, and began to read. "Subject shows abnormal confidence for his gender and age level. Subject has established a leadership role within his peer group," she started to paraphrase, scanning down the page. "He's arrogant, charismatic, and independent. He might as well not even be the same boy you told me he was before he got here."

"It's an act. An affectation. A well-executed one, but hollow nonetheless. His pathology has progressed. He now resembles the Second. You are well aware how easy it is to control her."

"I can't believe you would do that to a little girl."

"_We_," he said pointedly, "already have. One person is nothing against the fate of the entire world, doctor. How are you progressing with this Jet Alone nonsense?"

She stared at him coolly for a moment. He had only shared the true objective of the scenario with Fuyutsuki. She no doubt had her suspicions, but he let them remain. To comment would be to strengthen them, and to imply he felt some sort of concern for the emotional distress she would experience if he had to clarify the terms of their _relationship. _

Now, _that_ would be cruel.

* * *

><p>Rei took a great deal of interest in Shinji's interaction with her classmates. After a furtive few weeks he had taken to beginning each day by walking to the back of the classroom, where he sat with his chair propped against the back wall. Sometimes, he would merely observe, his head resting on his folded hands behind his neck. Other times, he would pull out an unrelated book and begin reading it, his feet propped up on the chair behind him.<p>

Today was such a day.

Class Representative Horaki furtively approached him, clutching her clipboard to her chest like some kind of shield. She was, Rei noted, blushing profusely, and immediately swept her eyes away from his when his piercing stare fell on her. Rei noted that this was a surprisingly common reaction among the female students (including the students of Class 2-B next door and the younger middle school students from the first floor, as well as the few upper-class girls he had contact with on a regular basis). Hikari swallowed for no readily apparent reason and said, mostly to the floor, "You need to stand up at the beginning of class."

Shinji turned back to his book. "No."

"…a-and you need to cut your hair."

He sighed. "No."

"And pay attention."

"No."

"I n-need to maintain order in the class," she said nervously.

He looked up at her again and the ghost of a smile turned up the corners of his lips. He tipped his book forward to draw her attention to it. "Nietzsche says, 'from chaos comes order.'"

She started to say something and then squeaked in alarm as she realized the rest of the class had filed in and the bell was about to ring. She made it to her desk just in time to shout "Stand! Bow! Sit!" as the teacher entered the room. Shinji pointedly did none of these things, taking an apparent pleasure in his insubordination, if the look on his face was any indication.

Rei had made several attempts to quantify his sense of humor. So far, they had all failed.

He noticed that she was watching him, or his reflection in the window at any rate, and fixed his gaze on hers. She felt sudden, curious warmth in her cheeks again. She involuntarily made a small sound and half the class abruptly turned and stared at her. Fumbling to avoid knocking her laptop off her desk, she adjusted herself, coughed into her fist, and started staring out the window, pointedly.

In his customary position next to Shinji, Suzahara leaned over and whispered, "How do you _do _that?"

He shrugged indifferently, not looking up from his book.

On the other side of his seat, Aida aimed a video camera at him. "Speak, O wise master. Let me capture your wisdom for the ages."

In reply, Shinji casually reached out, touched his finger to the side of the camera, and swept its field of view away from him, then returned to his reading. With a soft sight, Aida put it away and leaned against the wall, consciously imitating Shinji's pose, and, Rei noted, Suzahara was now doing the same. This went on throughout the teacher's meandering and ineffectual lecture, which was meant to include some content relating to mathematics, but ended up focusing on his experiences trying to raise squash after Second Impact. It was about as interesting as it sounded.

Apropros of nothing, Rei decided to try an experiment. She stood up. The class representative stared at her for a second, opened her mouth to say something, and then abruptly closed it again as she walked to where Aida sat. "Get up," she said.

Aida stared at her for a moment. "Uh, what?"

"I said, get up."

Visibly confused, the boy slid out of the desk and stood up. Rei picked up his bag and moved it out of the way, then sat down in his desk, next to Shinji. She carefully observed him for a moment, then assumed the same position, her head propped against the wall, her legs crossed at the ankles on the seat in front of her. Shinji didn't make any remark, but did squirm a bit, as if he was restraining laughter.

"What is funny?"

"Nothing," he smirked.

"Aida!" Hikari shouted. "Sit down!"

In a hurry, Aida shuffled to another seat and sat down, dejected. He glanced at Suzahara, who was now biting the edge of his hand to keep from laughing. Rei did not understand the source of their amusement. After an interminable length of time, the lunch bell finally rang, and Shinji jumped to his feet. Rei followed, more slowly, studying him. He turned to her as he tucked his book under his arm.

"This place smells," he said. "Let's skip school."

Her eyes narrowed. "I have been ordered to attend school."

"I won't tell on you."

"The Commander will be informed by the school staff and security detail."

"I can take care of that. Watch this."

He walked to the front of the room, and Rei followed, fascinated. He stopped by the desk where the Horaki girl was eating lunch with several of her friends.

"Class Rep," Shinji said, and Rei noticed the slight hint of a smile on his face when the girl half jumped out of her seat.

"Yes?"

He gestured to Rei. "We've been called in to Nerv."

"Oh," the girl nodded. "Make sure you sign out."

Rei noted, with some confusion, that Shinji did not sign out as they walked outside. They simply blended into the flow of students making their way into the morning air to eat, blending in perfectly as each carried a prepared lunch. Shinji wound around the back of the school and headed up into the hills, away from the building. Rei had seen this area from the inside of the school but had never walked here. There was a narrow path through some brush that led toward the hills overlooking the city. He chose a spot under a tree, sat down, and began eating his lunch.

"Why are we eating here?"

"The smell," he said, looking out over the city skyline as he took a bite. "I have to get away from it sometimes. I found this place while I was running."

"What smell?"

"Motor oil. Ozone. We concrete. People. Rubber. There's no breeze down there. Everything is dead."

"I have never noticed," she said, taking a deep breath through her nose. "It does smell different here."

"How can you not notice it?"

"I have never been anywhere else." She opened her food and began to eat, shoveling small bites of tofu into her mouth.

"You were born here?"

"I do not remember."

He blinked. "I don't remember being born, either. I mean, you've always lived here?"

"Yes."

"What happened to your family?"

"I do not have a family," she said.

He seemed confused by that. He looked down at the contents of her lunch box. "What are you eating?"

"Tofu."

"Plain tofu? That's it?"

He scooted closer to her and offered his own food to her. "Would you like some of mine?"

She leaned over it and examined it. There was nothing especially creative about his chosen fare. It was a mixture of meats, mostly fish, it seemed, and some artificial protein cubes, mixed with rice. She turned to him and said, "I dislike eating meat."

"Oh," he said. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

He was very close to her now. He'd leaned over her while she inspected his food, and his face had been close to the side of her head. Their noses were almost touching now. He was also, she realized with some surprise, blushing.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, I, uh, that is…"

Her eyes narrowed. His sudden stuttering was not in character. "What?"

"You smell really nice."

She leaned back. "I am not wearing perfume."

"No," he leaned against the tree. I mean _you_ smell really nice. I like the way you smell."

"That is…" she trailed off, searching for the correct word. "That is weird."

He burst out laughing. "I know," he managed to blurt out as he calmed down. "I'm sorry."

"I am not offended."

He continued to eat. He seemed a tense. Her experiences had taught her that in situations such as this, it is best to clear the air to relieve the tension. She turned to him. "Why did you ask me to come here with you?"

"Uh," he said, "I wanted to be close to… err… I mean, I wanted to talk to you… and stuff."

"Clarify 'stuff'."

He stared at her for a moment, his face slowly becoming more flushed. He opened his mouth and then closed it again, several times, as if he was about to express a line of thought and had suddenly abandoned it. He sucked in a quick breath and leaned forward.

"Like this," he said. Then, he kissed her.

Rei was unused to physical contact. She was examined by Doctor Akagi on a regular basis, and had been probed and doctored in the infirmary after the accident with Unit Zero. The Commander occasionally placed a hand on her shoulder, and the day she had been fitted for her plugsuit, ran his fingers through her hair, but had never repeated that action. She had never understood why other people placed so much importance on the act of touching one's lips to another's.

Until now. After a few seconds of consideration, she decided that she liked it.

* * *

><p>Misato was having one hell of a day. For one, she'd had to listen to the school counselor informing her, in detail, why her ward was a menace to society and should be incarcerated. She was relatively sure he had never mentioned leading any 'raids' into the girl's gym lockers, 'panty' or otherwise. She fought very hard to keep her indignation from turning into amusement as she mentally assembled the dressing down she was going to give him. He needed a reminder that his behavior reflected on the organization as a whole, and that many of the panties he stole-<p>

She burst out laughing and almost wrecked the car.

Then there was the whole giant robot thing. Being forced to sit through a technical presentation with Ritsuko yammering in her ear about science stuff was about as fun as having two root canals and then chugging a glass of ice water. She was a little suspicious about Jet Alone suddenly going on a rampage and then shutting off for no discernable reason, but there were times to ask questions and when her job was hanging by a thread, this wasn't one of them.

She half-heartedly undid her uniform jacket as she tromped into the apartment with a half-hearted "I'm home."

Shinji didn't answer her, which was odd, because his shoes were by the door. She slipped her own beside him and realized through her bleary beer-deprived consciousness that there was a third pair there, a scuffed pair of girl's dress shoes.

She walked into the kitchen. There, she found a _smiling_ Rei Ayanami, hungrily shoving food into her mouth. Shinji sat next to her, beaming, a battered old cookbook under one hand. His other hand rested on hers, her pale, slender fingers curled around his.

Oh.

Oh _shit._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Today was the big day.

Misato Katsuragi, the operations director and Asuka's new superior officer, was flying out to meet the flotilla, and bringing the Third Child with her. Asuka had to be ready. She began carefully preparing herself, amused at the objection of the officers to the length of her morning shower, despite the fact that she was aboard a nuclear powered supercarrier with its own desalination capabilities. Boys and their little traditions could be so silly. Of course, that her security detail forbid any of the female officers from using the showers while she did may have been part of it. She brushed her hair until it shone, tied the ribbon around her throat, and bound her hair back with her nerve clips. There was a cool breeze throwing her silky crimson hair over her shoulder as the VTOL came in for a landing.

She watched intently as the part aboard the craft disembarked. Katsuragi came first, dressed as scandalously as usual. She had a whole pack of children with her; potential pilot candidates, perhaps. One of them had some sort of camcorder with him. She couldn't believe Misato would tolerate a breach of security like that. Two boys emerged, the short dumpy one with the camera and a taller, athletic one in a track suit, who paused to talk to someone still inside the craft. He must have been the Third; Misato had said he was athletic, whatever that meant. She turned and rushed for the stairway that led from the flying bridge to the flight deck.

Of course, the wind chose that moment to lift her skirt up over her head, baring her rear end and the small of her back. She yelped in surprise and shimmied away from the railing, shoving the fabric down with her hands as she did. Straightening herself, she made sure not to run across the deck. Apparently, two more had left the craft while she was on her way down. She straightened herself and moved towards them.

"Hello, Misato," she said cheerily. She scanned the group of children the director had brought with her.

She walked up to the boy with the camera. "You're not the Third. You're too short."

She walked to the boy with the track suit. She eyed him up and down. "You might be. She said you were an athelete, you-"

"Thanks for the show," the boy said.

Her eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Your panties," he said, smirking.

"Oh," said Asuka. "Here's the viewing fee, you _jerk!"_

She hauled back and swung her hand, hard, only to be caught in a jarring impact as a firm grip clamped down on her forearm, almost tightly enough to hurt but not quite. A quiet voice said, "He's not the Third Child. I am."

She turned, ready to snap at the simian who'd grabbed her hand, and froze.

"Holy _shit," _she said, yanking her hand free.

Misato had said athletic, she hadn't said _Greek God._ Despite being an inch or two under her own height, in an unassuming white shirt and black slacks, the interloper was solidly built- Kaji couldn't dream of being that big. He moved with a strange, almost feline grace, and when his gaze settled on her, she instinctively took a step backward, the way she would from a caged animal. His arm fell to his side and he stood unnaturally still, studying her.

He turned to the boy in the tracksuit. "Next time we raid, we get hers first."

The other two boys immediately burst out laughing. The Third joined them, laughing so hard he actually clutched his side. Asuka stood staring at them all, wide-eyed, until their mirth subsided.

"You _are_ crazy," she whispered.

He crossed his arms. "And you are?"

She stiffened immediately, planted her hands on her hips, and looked down her nose at him. "I am the _great_ Asuka Langley-Soryu, pilot of Evangelion Unit Two, the first full production Evangelion. You must be _Shinji._"

He shrugged. "Yes."

"Good," she turned on her heels. "Follow me."

"About that viewing fee," he said, catching up to her, just a step behind. "Here's your _change._"

* * *

><p>This wasn't going well.<p>

First of all, bringing Kensuke aboard an aircraft carrier was probably a mistake. It was the first time the boy had ever been in Misato's presence that he wasn't trying to look down or up or around some item of her clothing. He seemed to be more sexually attracted to the ship itself. Second of all, she was certain that Asuka and Shinji were going to murder each other. Shinji was grinning from ear to ear, despite the livid, hand-shaped bruise that covered half his face. In Asuka's defense, he _did_ slap her right on the ass.

As much as he was grinning, she was scowling, taking small, deliberate bites of her meal as they sat in the officer's mess, which had been cleared for the occasion. Oh, and Kaji was there. Misato didn't know who to scowl at harder.

The lech leaned over and put an arm on her shoulder. He looked at Shinji.

"So," he said, "tell me, Shinji. Is Katsuragi still wild in bed?"

Kensuke dropped his fork, and his eyes slowly swiveled to Shinji. Toji turned beat red, and a bite of steak fell out of Asuka's mouth and plopped on her plate with a tiny, audible little splat. Misato's jaw worked silently, and she shrugged the oaf's arm off her shoulder.

"I don't know," Shinji said calmly with a half-hearted shrug, "She's more the kitchen table type."

He calmly took a bite of food, and all hell broke loose.

"I can't breathe!" Toji shouted, laughing so hard that only falling over Kensuke, who nearly dropped his camera, yelped in surprise, and then joined in on the laughter. Asuka leapt out of her chair and started screaming at Shinji in incoherent German that was more than half insults and allegations about his parentage and table manners, and Kaji sat bolt upright, his eyes wide with shock. He looked at Misato, and she realized, furiously, that she was actually _blushing_.

Kensuke slid out of his chair, fell to his knees on the deck, and pressed his forehead to the floor. "I am not worthy."

"Get up," Shinji rolled his eyes. "We're with people."

Misato realized there was a white-clad ensign standing in the doorway to the mess, quite rightly staring at them all as if they were totally insane. She did her best to fix her gaze on him, and waited for the others to join her. Asuka went beet red when she noticed, and sat down primly, visibly clenching her teeth.

"There's an emergency." He said, "Something is coming."

* * *

><p>The barge that carried Unit Two was almost as large as the <em>Theodore Roosevelt<em>. Asuka hadn't bothered to buckle her seat belt as the VTOL carried her and Shinji towards it, and she stared lustily out the window at the tarpaulin-covered form of her Evangelion. Opposite her, Shinji had gone completely quiet. He sat up into the cramped seat, perfectly straight, and had cupped his hands together in his lap. He was whispering something quietly to himself, and had his eyes pressed tightly shut.

She leaned back into her own seat, her knuckles white as she grasped the armrests. The landing was a little too hard, and the VTOL slid a bit on the helipad. The barge was beginning to roll, a little too much. Something was coming. Asuka got up first, moving with a purpose, dancing down the exit ramp before it even touched the deck. Shinji sprinted after her, caught up, and loped beside her in silence, his demeanor completely changed. She didn't know why exactly Misato insisted he share the plug with her, but there was no time to argue, and in any case, she was too excited.

It took a full five minutes to run across the rolling deck from the helipad at the Eva's feet to the head. The plug projected from the Eva's neck. Asuka lifted the tarp and crawled under it.

"Wait here," she snapped.

Making sure the tarp was down, she shuffled up against the side of the plug, pulled out the emergency plug suit, and started stripping. She left her clothes in a pile by the side of the Eva, slipped into the suit, and pulled it up around her neck. Hunching inward to keep it from sliding down her body, she flipped her hair over the collar and hit the button. With a hiss, it slid into place, just as Shinji threw the tarp up and walked under it. He grabbed his shirt and simply tore it away, popped buttons clattering over the decking at his feet. He threw it aside and pulled off his belt.

"What the _hell _are you doing?" she demanded.

His eyes were hard, cold, and fixed on her. "Grow up," he said simply.

Thankfully, he kept his pants on. Maybe not thankfully. He had so many muscles Asuka couldn't name them all. He passed her and started climbing the metal staircase into the plug.

"Where do you think you're going?" she shouted, following after him.

"You're sitting on my lap."

"You-"

He looked over his shoulder, His voice grew softer, and yet harder. "We don't have time for this."

She clenched her jaw and followed him. He slipped into the cold, uncharged LCL first, sinking in it up to his waist. Despite his lack of dress he ignored the cold and seated himself in the command chair, letting his hands fall to the sides. Reluctantly, she crawled in and slid into his lap, then pulled the control yoke down to hold them in place in the seat. It was a little awkward.

With a flick of the switch, the door to the plug closed. Her Eva was designed to launch much more expediently, and could activate with a much smaller support crew. In a pinch, like now, she could actually do it herself. She expelled the air from her lungs and as it rose over her lips took in a deep breath of the now pleasantly warm LCL, and leaned back, forgetting for a moment that Shinji was behind her.

He reached up and hugged her to him, crushing her arms to her sides, and in so doing yanked her hands away from the controls.

"What the _fuck?" _she shouted, trying to wriggle free.

He sat calmly, not reacting. His eyes were pressed tightly shut, and he continued to mumble his mantra, stopping only to whisper harshly, "You don't need those. Be quiet."

"The activation," she snapped, "I-"

She felt it, the familiar rush of synchronization. Something reached for her, as if from an angle she couldn't see, and slid against the back of her head, and after so much practice, it was easy. She felt the Eva glide into her brain, its massive limbs resting against the support apparatus, but she felt something else, something different. There was the Eva, and somehow, on the other side of it, was a burning, raging tide of heat, blurring into the sense of the Eva, and then into her. It made her skin crawl. The feel of the Eva changed, shifted, and she felt something, a profound difference.

"How did you…"

Breathing. Not hers. Not Shinji's. Someone else. A thundering shudder that passed up through her legs and into her chest, thrumming in tune with her own heartbeat, and his, pressed into her back. He shook a little with each beat, his eyes flicking back and forth rapidly under his eyelids, as if he were dreaming. She stopped struggling and simply stared.

The flash of colors came, but she ignored it. She felt more than saw the world around the Eva, flooding into her mind through the synchronization. The camera view around her was simply inadequate.

"I…"

She felt something else, a tug, a sort of pull off to their left. She felt it darting towards them, sliding through the cold sea with monstrous speed, a great beast, a predator come to feed, come to regain what was stolen. She knew what it wanted it, felt it, a great pull in the direction of the aircraft carrier, a subtle urge. She almost wanted to chase it herself.

She clenched her jaw. Unit Two stood up.

* * *

><p>Misato had a lot on her mind, all of a sudden. Unit Two barely made it, standing on the deck of the barge that carried, swathed in the tarpaulin that covered it like a cape. They would have only a few minutes of battery charge, at best, the Eva had no underwater capability, and she had no technical support. This was an unqualified disaster. Unit Two took a flying leap from the deck of the barge as the angel reared up and bit it in half with a long, toothy jaw, then dove underwater, barely visible the whole time. The surge of water that followed it, displaced as it moved, drug the two halves the barge down under the water, and they began to slide under the surface.<p>

Unit Two crossed the sun, legs up like a hurdle jumper, and then came down in a ponderously slow arc, planting both huge feet on either end of the destroyer, no doubt smashing a billion dollars' worth of equipment into a ruin, if it didn't outright kill anyone. The Eva contracted into a crouch as it landed and then sprung again, the force of the jump shoving the deck of the destroyer almost to the waterline and propelling Unit Two into another perilous jump over the deadly water.

She watched it cross the gap, and said, out loud, "Oh _shit."_

She barely had time to grab a bulkhead as Unit Two slammed into the deck of the carrier, throwing up great screeching panels of steel that tumbled over each other, slammed into the fighters on the deck, and sent several of them splashing into the ocean. The Evangelion sank into a crouch and twitched, as if it were fighting itself over what to do. The right hand reached up for the progressive knife in the left pylon, and then froze, quivering. Behind the Evangelion, the angel surged forward, the sea swelling over its white, blubbery back, then dipping below. The carrier was huge, but it couldn't take that.

Unit Two's hand clenched into a fist, and it stood up, throwing both hands into the air. There was a muffled series of booms and broken chunks of steel and composite armor rained from its head down to the deck below as it leaned back and screamed through all too human teeth, howling in rage and anguish. Misato's eyes widened and she saw the officers around her sink to their knees. Only the admiral, a grizzled old man with enough medals to nearly cover his chest, remained standing.

"My God," he said as the color drained from his face.

* * *

><p>Asuka was terrified, but there was something else. He'd stolen it from her, forced her out of the synch, and she was just along for the ride, almost as if <em>she<em> was the Eva. She could barely feel her limbs. Her mouth was tingling, her tongue fuzzy; she felt as if she'd been drinking, like the night Kaji had let her have a few beers to get her out of the idea she was going to drink with him. She turned to Shinji and her stomach clenched. She wasn't sure he was Shinji anymore.

His eyes flew open, and the soft blue of his irises was gone. His eyes were actually _glowing_, light green around a darker green in the center, and the LCL was starting to swirl in a circle around his head. He opened his mouth and coughed out wet, angry laughter, and she could swear his incisors had lengthened, almost into fangs. He gargled something incoherent and she felt a sudden surge of hate as the Evangelion turned to face the angel, dragging her with it.

Something was happening, she could feel it. The two sensations she'd felt burning in her head were almost one, like he'd _become_ the Eva, not just synched with it, and she was wrapped up into it, drawn into its terrible heat. Worst of all, she was starting to like it. Every nerve in her body was on fire, and she felt an intense urge, a need, a profound desire to sink her teeth into something and wrench it around with the strength of her neck until it was dead.

He roared, and she roared, and the Evangelion roared together, the sound rippling through her body in a terrible wave that rattled her bones. Together they turned and leapt into the water, and she knew they would sink like a stone and didn't care. Some detached, still human part of her mind saw the counter beside her ticking down to zero and remembered that was important. She screamed something at him about power or timers or something and he ignored her, and the Eva swam, actually _swam, _through the water. The power timer flickered and turned red and then a screeching set of alarms ripped through her mind as it started running backwards, then forwards, and then went insane, the displays flickering into a dozen babbling nonsense messages in German and Japanese.

Shinji was screaming, snarling in fury like an animal as the angel came for them. It opened its jaws and the Evangelion dove through them, burying itself in the Angel's body up to the waist. It bit down and she felt teeth slide into her guts but didn't care. The rage was on her now.

Shinji surged forward, almost crushing her into the controls, his arms lancing out to mimic the Evangelion's own as they reached for the core, the glowing red sphere at the heart of the angel's body, glittering before them. She found herself joining him, her arms sliding over his, and she felt the cool, smooth material in her hand as the Eva took hold of it.

"Mother!" Shinji screamed, "_Mother! Mother! Mother! __**Mama!**__"_ again and again as he squeezed, squeezed her so hard it hurt and squeezed the core, and she was screaming it too, bellowing it at the top of her lungs, bubbling the LCL in front of her face. A surge of sensation rippled through her and her scream turned into a shriek as her body went rigid and pressed against his.

The world became a blur. The core exploded, white heat rushing around her in a wave that paled against the fire in her own body, spreading in waves from her belly that made her gasp and writhe. She felt the steel of the carrier deck warping and twisting as Unit Two tore its way up and over the side, then hunched like a great ape on the deck, its head turning this way and that, great jaws slavering with saliva.

"Shhh," she heard Shinji whisper, "rest now. It's over."

He wasn't talking to her.

Everything went normal. Out of power, the Evangelion simply went dark, and she fell against him, her head falling beside his. She realized her cheek was resting against his, but she was exhausted, unable to move, her entire body fuzzy and numb. She felt as if she was going to pass out. She rolled her eyes up to look at him, but he was asleep, snoring softly, the LCL in front of his face tinged a little by the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

"What the hell was _that?_" she whispered, giggling a little. She felt _really_ weird.

* * *

><p>Considering the amount of damage that had been done to the deck of the <em>Roosevelt, <em>it was good that they were near the harbor to begin with. Asuka was forced to change into some ensign's spare uniform, which did not flatter her figure in the slightest. Shinji, for some reason, refused to wear the _shirt_ from his uniform, and stopped to take a deep breath of the sea air before walking down the gangway, the breeze ruffling his hair.

Asuka felt a little weird every time she looked at him. She swallowed, hard, and followed the others down. Her knees were still a little shaky. She turned and looked at Unit Two, still crouched over the carrier deck, now lashed down with huge cables to keep it from dumping over the side in a large swell. When she turned, Shinji had already reached the pier, standing in the sun and laughing with his friends. He froze as he saw someone running towards them. A slight, pale girl with silvery-blue hair and strange crimson eyes almost crashed into him and he kissed her furiously, lifting her up so that her feet kicked above the ground.

Oh.

The rest of the day was a blur. Misato said goodbye and she realized that she hadn't seen Kaji since before the attack; he'd apparently left by Harrier moments before the launched its assault. Some Nerv stood, a weirdo with long hair, led her down into the bowels of the Geofront. She supposed she was meant to ooh and ahh over it, but she mostly wanted to sleep. Her quarters were strangely familiar; the facility in Berlin used the same design.

She said nothing to the long haired idiot as he wandered away, and slammed the door closed behind her. It was, by Japanese standards, a large apartment, small by hers. Her stuff mostly filled it, and she had a lot of unpacking to do. She decided it could wait. She made sure she would have a towel and something to put on in the morning and fell onto the bed, desperate to sleep.

She was hardly aware she'd dozed off when she woke up. She heard a quick knock at the door and wandered over to it groggily. As she approached, something slid under it, scuttling along the carpeting. She stepped over the object and looked out through the peephole, saw no one, and then opened the door to find any empty hallway.

Someone had stuffed a thin plastic folder under her door. She opened it, and found a shiny DVD-R inside, "WATCH ME" written on the surface in marker. Confused, she put it down on the counter, and then dug out her old laptop. She popped out the DVD of combat footage she'd been studying, slipped the new disc into the drive, and pressed her earbuds into her ears. The disc autoplayed, dumping straight to the beginning of a movie file. A message flashed on screen in Japanese, too fast for her to read, and then a narration flared in her ears in accented English, subtitles flashing below in Japanese.

_Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of…_

She watched for a while, confused. She'd never seen this before, but it seemed oddly familiar. Some bearded man talking to a kid about steel. She thought about shutting it off and going back to sleep, but she waited a few minutes more. She stared into cold blue eyes, and watched Mama's head fall to the ground.

Before she even realized it, it was over, and she sat shaking, the laptop too warm in her lap, tears streaming down her cheeks. There was a note stuck in the blank DVD case. She pulled it out and unfolded it. Written in an unsteady, unfamiliar hand, was a single sentence.

_ What is the riddle of steel?_

* * *

><p><em>OMAKE<em>

As Shinji stepped off the gangplank, a tall woman in a smart pantsuit approached him.

"Shinji Ikari?"

"Yes?"

She handed him an enevelope. "You've been served."

"What the hell is this?"

"A sexual harassment lawsuit. My client alleges you groped her and made sexual innuendos in front of her coworkers."

_"What?_"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

One of the things Misato enjoyed most, besides eating and beer, was sleep. One of the things she enjoyed least was waking up from sleep, especially a sleep brought on by the eating and beer. The fact that she had to go to work only made it worse. Blearily, she rolled off of her futon, climbed over the pile of junk that separated her from the alarm clock, and turned it off, then rose to her feet. She leaned on the wall for a bit, then made her way over to the bathroom to either puke or take a shower. If she had to puke, she was definitely going to puke first.

She opened the door and was surprised to discover that the shower had been running. The room was full of steam. She was about to apologize for walking in on Shinji when she further realized that a naked Rei Ayanami was standing in her bathroom, brushing her teeth. In the mirror, Rei's crimson eyes drifted to her and studied her for a moment, and then the girl bent over, spit in the sink, rinsed out her mouth, and threw her towel over her shoulders, which didn't do much of a job of concealing anything.

"What?" said Rei.

"Rei," Misato said, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "What are you doing here?"

"I was brushing my teeth. I must dress."

"No," Misato leaned against the wall, "I mean, why aren't you at home?"

"I spent the night with Shinji. Excuse me. I need my clothes."

Misato turned away, suddenly remembering that the girl was, in fact, naked. She looked around the bathroom. "I don't see your clothes anywhere."

"They are in Shinji's room. May I go now?"

"Wait, what? You stripped in front of him?"

"My nudity was conducive to our sexual activity."

"Oh," Misato said. She sat down on the toiler for a minute, holding her head in her hands, and then sat bolt upright.

"Your _what?"_

* * *

><p>Asuka was beginning to resent a great number of things about living in Japan. The food, the apartment she lived in, the language, the heat, and most of all this ridiculous requirement that she attend middle school. A college graduate, doofing around with quadratic equations and other such childish nonsense. She had a degree in biology. They might as well have sent her to kindergarten.<p>

At least the other girls here knew their place. They all stared at her in awe as she walked through the halls to her first class. She had a good six inches on most of them, and some were even shorter, and her red hair stood out here like never before. She gave it a toss as she walked into the room, letting the light catch it. One of the girls approached her.

"Are you the transfer?"

"Yes," Asuka said idly, handing the pigtailed girl her folder. She would serve well as a beta female.

"Oh, oh. Well, choose a seat, I guess."

"Shouldn't I introduce myself to the class?" Asuka said, arching an eyebrow.

"I-if you want," the girl said, and then quickly sat down.

The doddering old teacher didn't seem to see her, much less notice her, so she went to the front of the room and wrote her name in a flowing hand halfway across the board and turned with just enough bounce to show the luster in her hair again, and announced her name.

At the back of the room, Shinji sat smirking in a desk, leaning his back against the wall with one leg thrown over the arm of the desk beside him, lounging idly. Ayanami, the First Child, slender and pale, sat next to him, lying against his shoulder. He twirled his fingers through her hair idly. Asuka immediately stared daggers at her, annoyed by their public display of affection. Didn't these people have rules?

The boy with the glasses, the one who insisted on filming everything, stood up from beside Shinji and declared, "You have entered the domain of Lord Shinji. He gives you leave to be seated."

Asuka stared in open-mouthed shock.

She looked at the mousy girl with the pigtails. "Aren't you supposed to control the class?"

"Y-yes," the girl replied sheepishly from her seat. The other students were snickering and typing away wildly on their laptops.

Clenching her fists, Asuka walked over to Shinji and slapped his foot from the top of the desk. He sat up and adjusted himself, and Ayanami wriggled to position herself against him again.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, planting her fists on her hips.

"Nothing of consequence," Shinji shrugged.

"You're setting a bad example, and you're making us look bad."

"I am?"

She tried not to grit her teeth. "We're pilots. We're the best humanity has to offer. We should be setting a standard."

"If we're the best humanity has to offer," said Shinji, "why are we _here?"_

"Wait," the boy in the tracksuit said, "I think I resent that."

"Be quiet, ape," Asuka snapped.

"You are also, technically, an ape," said Ayanami, in a slightly confused voice.

Asuka huffed in exasperation. "I'm not talking to you. That's another thing, Shinji. You shouldn't be pawing all over your creepy little doll in public."

"I am not a doll," said Rei, her eyes narrowing.

"Oh," said Shinji. "Jealous? There's enough Shinji for all."

The two boys, and, she realized, a gathering crowd, all nodded in approval as Shinji slapped his leg. Asuka clenched her fists and pressed her teeth together. "I'm going to tell Major Katusragi about this."

"I'm going to tell on you," the boy in the tracksuit mocked in a nasally voice.

She made an exasperated growl and headed back to the front of the classroom.

* * *

><p>Ritsuko felt a ball of ice form in her stomach as she pulled up the recorded readings from Unit Two's sortie against the aquatic angel and began to go over the numbers. She would have preferred that they made no sense- the rand garbage data that piled out of Unit One was frustrating, but this was outright frightening. The production model's more sophisticated systems more precisely measured every aspect of the unit's operation, the pilot's vital signs, the synchronization connections, even the pressure and temperature in the plug. The readings started off as a confused ball of static and then flatlined to zero, as if the Unit weren't even operating.<p>

When Shinji synched with it, the beast began to move on its own.

She sighed. This meant a long diagnostic check, a swim in the cold LCL, and crawling around through miles of tubes and wires in Unit Two trying to diagnose the problem with the sensors, even if it was imaginary.

She jerked upright as a pair of arms settled around her shoulders and quickly minimized the window, bringing up a picture of her cats piled up on her bed.

"You've lost weight," Kaji whispered in her ear.

"Coffee and cigarettes," she said, annoyed, as she shrugged out of his grip. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you, too, Rits," Kaji said sarcastically, throwing up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "It's been a while."

"Not long enough," she turned back to her work. "Did you want something?"

"My patented charm is failing? You wound me."

"I'm going to do more than wound your pride if you don't get out of here. Everything in here is classified."

"I've got clearance," he shrugged, holding out a laminated I.D. badge. "Inspector. See?"

"What, exactly do you inspect?"

He leaned dangerously close to her. "Beautiful women, whenever possible."

Behind him, Maya coughed. "I brought those reports you wanted."

Kaji straightened. "Oh. I suppose I'll let you get back to work."

"Do that," Ritsuko said angrily. "Bring me those reports, Maya."

The lech eyed the girl appreciatively as she passed, taking a lingering glance at her posterior. She snorted derisively and gave him a hard look and he retreated through the door, slipping a rather worn looking cigarette into his mouth. Maya made a disapproving sound and dumped a hefty file folder full of reports onto Ritsuko's desk.

"I never thought I'd be happy to see this junk," she muttered.

"They've finished moving Unit Two into the cage." Said Maya.

Ritsuko drummed her fingertips on the stack of reports.

* * *

><p>Misato was almost relieved when the phone rang. She had enough reports and paperwork to fill out that she could have dropped what she was doing, taken the papers, and used them to build a little fort. She picked up her desk phone and answered with a tired "Hello."<p>

"Major Katsuragi?" a woman's voice said. "This is-"

"Yes, yes," Misato sighed, "the school secretary, I know. What did he do now?"

"He? You misunderstand. Both of your pilots are involved, Major. Don't think that just because you-"

Misato angrily hung up, jumped to her feet, and thrust her arms through her jacket. As she walked out of her office, she angrily shoved Kaji out of the way, pulling the door sharply shut behind her. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I was hoping I could convince you to help me christen my new desk," he smirked.

"What? Seriously? Get out of my way."

Angrily, she stomped down the hallway to the elevator, cursing its slowness as Kaji caught up to her, leaning against the wall beside the doors. He looked her up and down with that lecherous look of his and she crossed her arms defensively, then immediately regretted it. Changing her body language would only signal him that he was getting to her. She put her arms back down. Damn it, now she was fidgeting.

"Something wrong?"

"My pilots are doing something horrible to that school," she muttered, beginning to tap her foot.

"Sending Asuka to school was probably a mistake."

"These kids deserve a normal life."

"Yeah," he shrugged. "Too bad about the whole child soldier giant robot pilot thing."

"Oh shut up," she snapped.

Finally, the elevator arrived. She hurriedly pushed the close door button, but he slipped inside anyway, taking up a position in the far corner of the elevator, leaning into it with practiced casual indifference. He nodded silently to himself as the counter ticked off the floors, which somehow made the noise grate on Misato's nerves even further. Once the doors opened she hurriedly made her way to the parking garage, and as she fumbled in her pocket for her keys, noticed they were missing.

Kaji jingled them next to her ear.

"How did you-"

"Trade secret," he tugged them out of her reach. "Why don't we take my car, for old times?"

She snatched her keys way. "No. Go away."

Hurriedly, she opened up the car and dropped into the driver's seat, only to realize that he was parked next to her in a white Lotus. When she turned the key and brought the car to life, he gunned his own engine and skidded forward out of the parking spot a little bit, tires screeching. She narrowed her eyes, threw the car into gear, and floored it.

He kept pace with her easily, even making the sharp turn out of the garage into the tunnel that lead up to the surface. It was a relatively short drive to the school from there, for obvious reasons. Kaji pulled alongside her in the parking lot and followed after her when she got out.

"You're losing your edge,"

"Go away," she said again, almost running up the front steps to the doors of the school.

She heard shouting and headed towards it. A half dozen adults, including the wizened old teacher of Shinji's class, the school secretaries and the administrators were milling around a much larger crowd of girls, all in their uniform swimsuits. Most prominent of them was Asuka, marked out both by her height and her fiery hair. She scowled when saw Misato.

"Get that lunatic out of there!" she shouted, pointing at the entrance to the girl's locker room.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Shinji and his idiot friends are in there, that's what!"

Another girl with freckles and pigtails, standing next to Asuka said, "They have our clothes!"

Clenching her fists, Misato walked to the door of the locker room. "What the hell are you doing in there?"

"The Red Devil insulted our queen!" the Suzahara boy called back. "We have taken their panties hostage until reparations are made!"

"We are fully committed to the cause!" the Aida boy shouted. "We are prepared for martyrdom!"

She turned to Asuka. "What are they going on about?"

"I didn't do anything," Asuka said defensively. "This is absurd. Do something."

"These are our demands!" Suzahara shouted. "First, we demand that our teacher be replaced with a hot babe. Second, we demand that the Red Devil publicly apologize. Third, we demand that Miss Katsuragi put on a school swimsuit for us."

"I am going to _murder_ that little shit," she snapped.

"It was Kensuke's idea!"

Sighing, Misato looked around. "Where's Rei?"

"She has joined the resistance!"

"Traitorous bi-"

"_Asuka!" _Misato snapped.

The girl crossed her arms and huffed.

Kaji appeared beside her. "I offer to go in and negotiate."

"This is absurd," the school principal said angrily, appearing by the door. "Get them out of there, _now_, before I call the police."

"Our glorious leader has agreed to grant the man Kaji safe passage for the purposes of negotiation," Aida called.

* * *

><p>It had been a long time since Kaji had been in the girl's locker room, but the scent of deodorant and starched school uniforms brought back pleasant memories. He almost had a smile on his face until he snaked through the curved corridor that prevented anyone from peeking into the dressing area and saw what was going on inside.<p>

Shinji sat on a throne built out of boxes, and, well, underwear, Rei Ayanami curled on his lap. He rested his chin on one fist and favored Kaji with a bemused smile, while the male half of his class crowded around him, seated on the benches between the lockers as if he were about to dispense some great wisdom. Two boys, a tall one in a track suit and a smaller, goofier one who was filming the whole thing, stood on either side of him, mops held in their hands like spears and, absurdly, girls' panties on their heads like hats.

"Tell me those are clean," Kaji huffed.

In reply, Shinji took hold of Rei's hips and guided her to the floor, and then stood up, a pair of panties in his hand. He raised them over his head in a clenched fist and the boys broke out in a cheer, banging their fists on the lockers.

"Is that… did you…"

Shinji grinned. "Yes."

Angrily, Kaji stormed over to him. "I want to talk to you. Alone."

The boys edged around him, the two with the mops pointing them at him dangerously, until Shinji raised a hand and gestured to them. He followed Kaji away from the mob around another set of lockers. He leaned over the boy, and was nonplussed by his lack of reaction, but didn't show it.

"What the _hell_ are you doing? Why are you doing this to her?"

His expression shifted. "What?"

"Asuka. Do you know how hard it is on her to move away from everything she's ever known? She's in a strange place full of strange people, strange food, and a strange language, and you pull this bullshit on her. I should kick your ass."

The boy fixed his gaze on Kaji. "You might try."

"Listen, you-"

"No," Shinji said sharply, "Steel is brittle unless it is properly tempered."

Kaji stood up. "You're insane."

"Lesser men sit in circles and speak with each other of what sane or not. I act."

"You really are out of your mind. They're going to kick both of you out of school over this."

"I think I've made my point," said Shinji.

He walked back around the lockers. "Everyone out. Leave the clothes."

There was a collective sigh of disappointment, and the two boys peeled the panties from their heads and tossed them onto the pile. Shinji added the pair he held and walked out, the Ayanami girl beside him, and Kaji followed, the last out. Shinji made a show of presenting himself to the principal, holding out his wrists as if he expected to be handcuffed.

The principal sputtered and took a step back. "Katusragi, I want him and this new transfer student out of here! _Now!"_

* * *

><p>Fuyutsuki calmly finished reading the report to Ikari over the phone, then listened to the hissing silence from the other end, finally broken by "He what<em>?"<em>

"He held the female student body's clothing hostage for two hours this afternoon."

"I am not amused."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I am not. Neither are you. Am I clear?"

"If you insist," Fuyutsuki chuckled. "I remember you doing worse in your day, why-"

"Stop. We are not becoming sentimental about these children. We cannot afford that."

Fuyutsuki said nothing.

"The repairs to Unit Two?"

"Progressing," Fuyutsuki said, thumbing through the report. "All three units will be fully operational before the arrival of the Seventh, as predicted."

"Excellent. Inform me of any further irregularities. I will not return for some time, unfortunately. The operation with the Lance requires my full attention."

"Of course," Fuyutsuki said. "What should I do about the pilots?"

"Whatever you see fit. Their behavior does not concern me so long as they are effective in fulfilling their purpose. The school is a necessary resource. Do whatever you need to do to ensure their compliance. I don't need some educator with a superiority complex annoying me when it comes to procuring another pilot."

"Yes, sir," Fuyutsuki sighed, then hung up. He sat back in his chair for a moment, and then dialed the number for the school principal.

* * *

><p>Maya giggled, and Ritsuko turned in her chair, eyeing her assistant warily. "What now?"<p>

"I've got the report from Asuka's biometrics, from the sortie," Maya handed her the file. "Does that look like what I think it looks like?"

Ritsuko looked over the report. Elevated heart rate, blood pressure, electrical activity on the skin, all normal. "I don't see what you're…" she trailed off as she flipped through the rest of the report, the skin temperature readings, and the feedback from her nerve clips.

"That's impossible."

"Can I sign up to be a pilot?"

"What?"

"I haven't had a boyfriend that doesn't need batteries since-"

"Gah," said Ritsuko, "stop that, stop telling me that. Never tell me that again."

It was then that Misato walked into the lab, closed the door behind her, and locked it. She slid down onto the floor and slumped against the door, visibly exhausted. Her uniform was disheveled and her hair was out of place.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"I'm going crazy," said Misato, pressing her hands over her eyes. "I can't take this."

"What happened?"

"Didn't you hear? Shinji got himself and Asuka thrown out of school. It took Fuyutsuki calling to personally apologize to the principal to get them back in. He said I'm lucky I'm not being demoted."

"What did he do?" said Maya. She leaned forward and propped her chin on her hands.

"You're not going to believe this. Asuka tried to help their class rep or whatever enforce the rules, and she said something to Rei about being a doll," Misato rubbed her forhead. "So he waited for the girls to change into their swimsuits for gym class and led the entire class of boys into the locker rooms and stole their clothes. They built him a throne of panties. A _throne of panties."_

"Holy shit," said Maya.

Ritsuko stared at her in shock.

"What? I can cuss if I want to."

"That's not all," said Misato. "I walked in on Rei in the bathroom this morning."

"Here?" said Ritsuko. "I thought she was at school?"

"No, _my _bathroom. She spent the night in Shinji's room last night. I have to go and give them _the talk_. Oh, and did you know that Rei's hair is naturally that color? I always thought she dyed it. I need a drink."

Ritsuko rolled her eyes. "I'm her physician, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. I don't want to go home. They'll be there. They might be there right now."

"You'd better go," said Ritsuko. "I wouldn' t worry too much, though. We have Rei on birth control. It's a hormonal thing."

"That's not the _point,_" said Misato. "It's weird, it's weirding me out."

Slowly, she stood up and straightened her hair, and her uniform jacket. "I'm going home for the day. I'll see you tomorrow."

They watched her go, and Maya turned to Ritsuko.

"Her hair is really that color?"

Ritsuko palmed her face.

* * *

><p>With a sigh, Fuyutsuki dialed Gendo's number and waited patiently for the connection. He drummed his fingers on the newly prepare surveillance report on the pliots as he waited on the hissing line for Ikari answer him.<p>

"Now what?"

"I have the report on the pilots' activities for the last few days."

"This had better be important."

Slowly, and his best possible monotone, Fuyutsuki read the description of Shinji sneaking Rei into Katsuragi's apartment while the latter was at work, as well as the recorded exchanges on the microphones.

"He _**what?**_"


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Asuka was a little nervous.

The feeling was decidedly uncomfortable. Ever since the attack on the fleet, the inside of Unit Two had felt different to her somehow, the process of synching less familiar. She was beginning to wonder if Shinji hadn't damaged it somehow. She heard things as she commanded the Evangelion to move, distant whispers she couldn't make out, the strangest sense that someone was about to touch her hand or brush fingers through her hair. It was annoying, but it wasn't damaging her synch ratio.

She took a deep breath and looked out across the sunken buildings at the target. The angel was bidpedal, roughly Eva sized, and probably had some kind of trick up its sleeve. It seemed almost too easy. She readied her progressive knife and focused on the creature, scanning for the core. It had two, it seemed, which was knew. Hunched and apelike, it picked its way forward, pushing little waves ahead of itself. She felt the ghostly sensation again, like an invisible hand almost touching her shoulder, and hesitated.

"Shinji," she said, "I'm taking point. Give me covering fire and-"

He cut her off with a feral scream and ran forward, Unit One splashing through the water at stunning speed. It hunched forward like an animal, its mouth armor broken open again to reveal slavering jaws.

"Damn you," she cursed, picking up a pallet rifle.

Howling in fury, Shinji drew close to the angel and launched his Eva at it full tilt. The ground shook from the impact, and a circular wave, like ripples in a pod, spread out from them. The hands of the angel and the hands of the Eva locked together and Shinji screamed, an animal cry of rage rippling out from Unit One at the same time. Desperately, she swept the reticle to and fro, searching for a clear shot, but none presented itself to her.

Suddenly, Unit One pulled the angel towards itself, let out a gurgling snarl, and _bit _it, grabbed its odd headless shoulders with its teeth and started pulling and tear, covering itself with blue gore. The angel let out a strange, ululating cry of pain and as she watched began to pull against itself. A seam formed down its middle, leaving streamers of mucous as it separated. The two halves jumped apart, each holding one of Unit One's arms. She gasped in horror as the twinned angels' sides bubbled and erupted in new arms in legs, such that each was now a complete individual, with its own core.

She snapped the rifle into the firing position and opened up on the one on the left. It cried out as the shells tore into it and knocked it back, forcing it to release its grip on Shinji's Eva. Now free, he turned and focused on the other one. Unit One grabbed the angel's arm with both hands and twisted it.

Asuka ran forward in silence, slamming home another magazine into the rifle as she did, meaning to finish off the one she'd downed. To her horror, it simply stood up, jumped on Unit One, and locked its arms around Shinji's neck in a sleeper hold. Unit One bucked wildly, trying to headbutt the one that held it from behind. It released the other half of the creature and focuseds its efforts on trying to tear itself free. Shinji let out a sort of strained gurgle, as if he were being choked, and she rushed to get the damned thing off of him. With a cry of rage, he jumped and fell backwards, meaning to slam the thing into the ground.

He hit her instead.

She yelped in pain as hundreds of tons of Evangelion and angel crashed into her and slammed Unit Two into the corpse of a broken, leaning building that jutted from the waterline. Furious, she tossed the ruined rifle away, drew her prog knife, and went to work on the angel, stabbing at its back, digging long furrows in its silvery flesh. It cried out, and the other one was on her. It came up behind Unit Two and punched both sets of claws on its hands into her Eva's back. She cried out in pain as white hot lines of pain lanced down her back. She arched and bucked in the seat and Unit Two lost its grip on the prog knife. The timer spun to life beside her. Her umbilical had been torn out.

Screaming with animal fury, Shinji ignored the angel clinging to the back of his Eva, grabbed the half of the angel that had assaulted her, and lifted it clear over Unit One's head. Barely stopping to breath, he kept snarling as he pulled the thing earthward and broke it over Unit One's knee. Panting, clutching her sides, Asuka tried to pull the one away from his back but it continued to pull at him, clawing deep rents in Unit One's armor. She pushed the pain down, clenched her teeth, and ignored the blood floating in the LCL in front of her. She hooked Unit Two's arm under that of the angel on Shinji's back and pulled. The pressure relieved, he twisted and pulled it around and slammed it down on top of the other one.

"Asuka!" Misato cried, "Get back! They're going to drop an N2 mine on it!"

"_What?"_

Shinji suddenly went silent. Unit One turned, stomped into a sprint, and slammed into her. Her breath blew out through her nose and mouth, bubbling the LCL as her belly contracted in sympathetic pain. Shinji simply picked her and her Eva up, threw her over his shoulder, and ran full tilt. She saw the flying wing coming in and realized, her eyes widening, that her time was about to run out. She didn't have an AT Field.

Unit One trotted to a stop and someone, Akagi maybe, started screaming about feedback, circuit reversals and power overloads. Unit One looked up at the incoming bomb, twinkling like a star in the fading light, and raised his free hand in a gesture of defiance. His AT-Field unfolded in a glittering sheet of orange light. His umbilical cable exploded. It simple ceased to be, vaporizing in a harsh stream of too-bright light that left purple streaks across Asuka's vision. The actual umbilical connection melted to slag, dribbling in red hot bubbles down his back, and flames erupted from the socket.

The N2 mine detonated.

When she woke up, she was in the dark and heard banging. The plug had done an emergency vent of her LCL, and her power supply was dead. She wasn't going anywhere. The emergency hatch flew open and Shinji dropped into the plug, panting.

"Are you alright?"

"You _idiot!_ You almost got us killed! You stupid barbarian, you…"

She trailed off. He was bleeding from his forehead, and there was a burn on his cheek. He swayed on his feet and leaned on her seat to steady himself.

"Good," he said.

Then, he passed out.

* * *

><p>"What is wrong with him?" Rei asked quietly.<p>

It was like a knife twisting in Misato's gut. She stood in the corner of the hospital room, watching Shinji's chest rise and fall in slow, shallow breaths. They'd stitched the cut on his forehead, and bandaged the burn on his cheek. Otherwise, he was fine. There was no particular reason why he wasn't waking up. The doctors said it was likely fatigue, and he would come around eventually.

"He'll be fine," Misato said, mustering the most confident voice she could.

Asuka edged into the room, freshly showered and changed out of her plugsuit, her hair pulled back with those silly nerve clips. She looked a little nervous as she edged closer. Finally, Misato turned to her.

"Just get in here," she snapped.

"What's your problem?" the girl said haughtily, her standard mask of superiority returned. "I'm just here to see if I'll be stuck with the doll when I have to go out and kill that thing."

"I am not a doll," Rei said, a hint of heat in her voice.

Misato winced. Having gotten used to the girl's quiet monotone, it was like hearing her shrieking in rage. Misato had learned firsthand that the only shrieking Rei did in no way involved rage. She winced at the thought and interposed herself between them to break it up before Asuka started in on her.

"Both of you be quiet," Misato snapped. "I'm not going to tolerate this. My pilot corps is not going to be at each other's throats."

"Heh," Asuka said with an imperious smirk. "These two are at each other's-"

"Enough, Asuka," Misato snapped. "You are going to learn to work together. Pack your stuff, Asuka. I'm moving you."

"Where?"

"In with me."

"_What?" _Asuka shouted, and then winced.

Rei scowled at her, but said nothing, and rested a hand on Shinji's arm. Misato palmed her face and took a deep breath.

"You heard me. Rei practically lives with us already. I want all of you where I can see you while I train you."

"How, exactly, are you planning to do that?"

"I'm working on it," Misato sighed. "Go get your things together. I'll send Section 2 to carry your crap up to my apartment."

With a huff and a swirl of red hair, Asuka stomped off, fists clenched at her sides. Misato let out a sigh and fell back against the wall, rubbing her forehead. She sank into a chair and threw her feet out, and forced a breath of air out through her pursed lips, pushing her hair away from her eyes.

She heard laughing. Rei jumped up and mashed her face into Shinji's, and he winced in pain, and then continued laughing.

"What the hell is so funny?" Misato demanded.

"Toji and Kensuke are never going to believe this."

* * *

><p>Akagi strode into Fuyutsuki's office, dumped a thick sheaf of papers onto the already expansive spread of paperwork on his desk, and said very quietly, "He's killing himself."<p>

He leaned back in surprise. "What?"

"When the N2 mine dropped, Shinji's synch ratio went well over one hundred percent. We need to quarantine Unit One and strengthen the buffers, or he's going to end up like the first pilot."

"We can't-"

"There's more," she cut him off. "He's degrading the restraining system somehow. Every time he pulls one of these stunts there's a chance we'll lose it completely."

Fuyutsuki rocked back in his chair. "Look at this from my perspective, doctor. Pilot Soryu performed poorly in her first operation piloting solo against an angel. This is Shinji's first real defeat. If something happens to him, it's tragic, but if I hold back our best weapon and we lose, you know what happens."

"Have you thought of the other possibility?"

"Which is?"

"The Eva breaks free of the restraints, and he retains control of it, somehow."

"I'll consider it," said Fuyutsuki.

* * *

><p>Misato slapped the phone down on the receiver with a huff and scanned the carnage that was her apartment. To her surprise, Shinji had simply acquiesced when Asuka demanded the larger room, and Rei had helped him move his things, actually <em>their<em> things, into the room across the hall, while Asuka took the larger space with the window. As it was, her apartment was now full of the same shipping boxes Asuka's possessions had been sent to Japan in, stacked up in the hall, around the living room, and out in the main corridor outside the apartment. Two Section 2 men in their off duty clothes had just finished muscling Asuka's ridiculously oversized bed into the small room. She grudgingly handed them cans of beer, which they gratefully took and sauntered out of the apartment.

"Rei," said Misato. "Help Asuka unpack."

Rei nodded in agreement while Asuka raised an eyebrow. "What? I can do it myself."

"I don't want you at each other's throats," said Misato. "I need to talk to Shinji."

Shinji perked up and walked into the kitchen.

"Start wearing a shirt," Misato smirked, taking a drink of beer. The kid's abs had abs.

"No," said Shinji, rummaging in the refrigerator. He took out a beer of his own and downed half of it in a single gulp.

"That's your only one for the day, right?"

"Right," he nodded.

"Listen," she said, moving over to the table. "I have new orders. Rei and Asuka will sortie for the next battle. You'll be kept on reserve in the cage in case you're needed."

He straightened. "What? Why?"

"They're worried you're going to damage the Eva. Something about pushing it too hard."

"I'll be more careful."

Misato looked over his shoulder and saw a pair of blue eyes under red hair, just at the edge of the door. She made sure Asuka didn't notice her watching her watching Shinji and went on. "Orders are orders."

"I don't want them going out by themselves."

"You're not in charge," said Misato as she took another sip of beer, "I am. My superiors have given me an order to be relayed to the pilots. There will be no further discussion."

He shrugged. "Fine. I'm going to lift weights."

"Don't be out all night," said Misato. "I know school is out while we prepare, but I don't want you wandering around by yourself."

"Hey," Asuka said, popping into the room. She had a long rectangular box under her arm. "This isn't mine. It's got the barbarian's name on it."

Shinji immediately brightened, took the box from her, and hurried to the counter where he procured a knife. He set it on the table, sliced open the tape, and flipped open the cover. Misato immediately smelled the familiar stink of preservative grease. Shinji peeled away the brown wrapping paper covering the object inside.

Wrapped in plastic, slathered in grease and with a cardboard sleeve over the blade was a _sword_, an actual sword. He looked it over, slid it back into the box, and carried it into his room. "I'll clean this later."

Misato and Asuka both stared at him as he walked back in front of the door in his sweat suit.

"Shinji, where the hell did you get that?" said Misato.

"The Internet," he shrugged.

* * *

><p>"She lets you <em>live<em> here?" Asuka said, incredulous.

Rei shrugged her shoulders in the tiny, almost unnoticeable way she always did. "He suggested it. I agreed. The Major objected."

Asuka blinked. "You mean, she said not to do something and you did it anyway?"

Rei paused in thought. "Yes."

Asuka shrugged, pulled open a box, and started hanging dresses in her alleged closet. Rei continued to pile pairs of her pants into one of the three nightstands she'd brought, which unfortunately lined one of the walls in the little room. Asuka huffed and started weighing which lamp she was going to use, since she only needed one now.

"Pilot Soryu?" said Rei.

"What?" Asuka huffed, tossing the lamp in her hand aside. She wanted the glass one.

"Why do you pilot Eva?"

"Because I'm the best, and I'm the best."

"You piloted with Shinji. I have never done that."

"Yeah," Asuka said hurriedly, moving for another box. "I did."

"What was it like?"

She felt heat rising on her cheeks. Rei studied her, narrowing her eyes.

"You are blushing. I see."

"It's not like that," Asuka said. "It was weird, that's all."

"Do you enjoy touching him?"

Asuka nearly dropped the lamp she was holding, stumbled, and fell onto her bed. Rei stared at her blankly, apparently simply expecting an answer.

"What? No! He's a brute, and I-"

"I see," said Rei.

"I'm not putting the moves on your boyfriend." Asuka said as she stood and started looking for the box with her underwear in it. She'd probably have to find somewhere to keep it with locks on it.

"My boyfriend?" said Rei. "I do not understand."

Asuka almost choked on her own tongue. "What? What are you, stupid?"

"No," Rei said sharply, shoving a box into the closet. "I am of slightly above normal intelligence."

Asuka shook her head. "Nevermind. You… do stuff with him."

"You mean have sex," Rei said casually, as if she was talking about what to have for dinner.

Asuka stared at her, open mouthed. She closed her mouth with a click of her teeth. "Yes, Rei, that's what I mean. I thought you Japanese girls were supposed to be shy. Yeah, that's what boyfriends and girlfriends do."

"I see," said Rei. "So I am his girlfriend. Would you like to be his girlfriend as well?"

"_What?_"

Rei blinked. "You assumed a defensive posture when I asked if you were interested in physical relations with him."

"No, Rei. You're only supposed to have one at a time."

"Oh. Why?"

Asuka sat down on the bed. "What do you mean, _why?_ Because you do!"

"That is not a reason," said Rei. "Your argument is a tautology."

Asuka stared at her for nearly a minute. "Are you fucking with me?"

Rei paused in her work and tilted her head. "I am confused as to your choice of euphemism. Are you suggesting that we touch each other?"

Asuka stood up, walked out into the kitchen where Misato sat in her pajamas poring over some report or paperwork or some stupid thing, and Asuka slammed her hands on the table.

"I'm leaving. I am not living with these lunatics."

Misato put her face in her hands and made a sound that was half laugh, and half cry of frustration. "Yes, you are. Deal with it."

"She's insane. He's insane. I think you're insane. You let them fornicate with each other any way they want and don't even say anything? What kind of a guardian are you!"

"Asuka," said Misato, "you don't know everything I know. Just let it be."

At that moment, one of Misato's refrigerators –Asuka just now noticed that she had two for some reason- opened, and a freaking _penguin_, wandered out, wearing a weird little backpack, and looked up at her. It made an annoyed grunting sound, walked over to the other fridge, took a beer and walked back into the small refrigerator from whence it emerged.

Asuka stared at it in stunned silence and said, "I'm taking a shower. No one bother me."

Misato shrugged, and Asuka walked into the bathroom, slammed the door, and having disrobed, turned on the hot water. She sighed as the room filled with steam, slid into the shower, and set about washing her hair. After she stood under the water as hot as she could stand it for as long as she could stand it and rinsed away the soap, she threw open the shower curtain.

There, she found Rei, wearing a towel, and only a towel.

Around her neck.

"It is my turn," said Rei.

She started screaming.

* * *

><p>Maya sighed. Sometimes, she had no idea why the base was designed the way it was. The maps of the corridors looked like the map on the bag of a children's meal from a fast food restaurant, crossed with some sort of weird religious mandala. For some reason, walking to the commissary to eat lunch required that she walk past the staff gym, ill-used as it was. Most of the people she worked with were too tired after hours of mental exertion for much in the way of the physical. She heard a loud, metallic clang and stopped by the door.<p>

One of the pilots, Ikari, was doing some kind of weird exercise where he took a really big weight in his hands, stood up, and put it back down again. He spotted her in the mirror and she jumped in surprise.

He turned a little. "What?"

"Uh, what are you doing?"

"Deadlifts," he replied. He crouched down, picked up the weight, and repeated the motion. The weight clanged when he put it back down again, the noise she'd heard before.

"Why?"

"Lower back, legs, trapezius," he replied, and then did it again.

Curious, she wandered into the room. "That looks really heavy."

"It is," he said, and then repeated the movement.

"It looks like it hurts."

"It does, and it doesn't", he said. He rolled the big weight thingy up onto two littler weights and started taking the big plates off of it, panting all the while.

"Then why do you do it?"

He stood up and toweled off his face. "What is the riddle of steel?"

"Huh?"

"Nothing," he shook his head. "Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and do not surrender, that is strength."

"Oh," she said. "Okay. Umm, bye."

"Goodbye," he said as he headed over to pick up some big hexagony things. They looked really heavy, too.

She wandered into the commissary. Doctor Akagi was there, drinking coffee that was probably cold. Maya sat down opposite her with a cup of her own, and then, thinking about it for a moment, went and poured a fresh one for her.

"What's this?"

"Coffee," said Maya. "Yours is cold."

"How did you… nevermind, don't answer that."

Maya sat sipping her coffee for a while. She felt an odd itching sensation at the base of her neck. "Doctor Akagi?"

"Yes, Maya?"

"Would you like to, I mean, do you think we could, umm, go for a cup of coffee later?"

She sighed, and smirked in bemusement. "We're drinking coffee now."

"I mean, somewhere else. Like a restaurant or something."

She quirked an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because I would… um… like to?"

"I'm busy," the older woman sighed. She took a sip of coffee and stared at the paper she was looking at for a little while. "Oh, what the hell. Why not. When do you get off work?"

* * *

><p>Misato was beginning to question the wisdom of this entire plan. She'd gotten used to Rei's little habit, and hadn't thought to warn Asuka or say anything to Rei herself about it. Asuka spent the next hour wandering around the living room and ranting in German while Misato hooked up the old game system.<p>

"What the hell is that?" Asuka said finally, slipping back into Japanese.

"It's a game system," said Misato. "For your training."

"How is that going to help with our training?"

"Like this," said Misato, turning it on. It pinged to life and the television flashed pink. It still worked. "Rei, come on."

Rei wandered out of Shinji's room in a blue warm-up suit. Asuka noticed that the tag was still on it and huffed, and Misato laughed at her. Asuka in her daisy dukes and little shirt was going to get uncomfortable fast, but Misato decided to let her figure that for herself.

She gestured to the pad on the floor. "You each take a pad. The goal is to synchronize your movements to the song."

With an imperious look on her face, Asuka took a position, followed by Rei. The song started playing, a simple, easy one, and they started moving. Asuka fell out of time almost immediately, and Rei glanced at her.

"Shut up," said Asuka.

"I did not say anything," said Rei.

"Try again," said Misato, grinning.

* * *

><p>The indignity of this was too much.<p>

Her beloved bed was only a few feet away, and Asuka was forced to sleep here, on the floor, with crazy albino nympho girl with her natural blue hair and the queen of the beers, who also snored viciously. She winced as Misato unleashed another bestial snort and sat up. She thought she heard a low, thin scraping sound, and crept towards it.

Shinji's door was half open. Something inside was casting reflections on the walls all around. She crept around to the corner, where she could see him. In his hand he held that ridiculous sword he had in the box. He'd cleaned the foul smelling gunk off it and polished the blade to a mirror shine, and he was rubbing some kind of stone along the edges, smiling as he did. The sound was just barely audible. He slid it into a black leather scabbard, shoved it under his futon, and rolled over to sleep.

Gingerly, she made her way back to the bedrolls. As she lay down, she realized that Rei was awake, staring at her with those red eyes of hers.

"What?" Asuka whispered, harshly.

"You are awake," Rei replied, her voice barely more than a breath.

"I couldn't sleep next to Major Warthog," said Asuka.

Rei shrugged and closed her eyes. Soon enough, Asuka started to drift off, and finally sleep took her, rushing up to envelop her in blackness. She awoke again the harsh morning light, curled on herself. She realized someone was touching her and sat upright, ready to lash out at the pervert, assuming Shinji had crawled out of his hole to feel her up while she was asleep.

Rei had been clinging to her. Awake now, she looked up at her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Asuka whispered sharply. Misato was still out.

"You were crying your sleep," Rei said quietly, rolling over. "I attempted to quiet you."

"I was not," Asuka snapped as she flopped back down on the bedroll and squeezed her eyes shut in vain hope of getting some actual rest.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Asuka raised her hand to offer Rei a high-five, and was greeted with a blank stare.

"Put your hand up like this," she said as she rolled her eyes.

Rei mimicked her. Asuka slapped her palm.

"I do not understand the purpose of this gesture," said Rei.

"Do I have to teach you everything?"

"No," said Rei.

Watching her from the kitchen, Misato smiled to herself. It'd been a week since she'd forced Asuka to move into their apartment, and while most of her junk was still in boxes spread around the apartment, she'd actually opened up a tiny bit. She had the sneaking suspicion it was mostly due Rei's uncanny ability to mimic her movements and then stand there in silence while she gloated. Whether or not Rei actually agreed with Asuka's bragging was difficult to tell.

Shinji lightly jogged into the apartment, mumbled "I'm home," and continued on to the shower. He'd been out running in the mostly empty city. While they waited for the angel to lower its defensive AT-Field and begin moving, the city was in a strange state of almost lockdown, with people living out of the shelters, essential personnel going to work, and the city government piling up more useless papers on her desk. Somewhere in the last thirty-six hours she'd noticed that no one ever came to collect said papers, and so began piling them up under an old coffee pot in the corner of her office.

"Welcome home," Misato called back to him. He vanished into the bathroom while the girls went back to work, dancing the routine again.

She'd learned more than she meant to about either of her pilots, herself. Sleeping with them was a bizarre experience. For one, when she'd first arrived she never would have pegged Rei as a cuddler. She was beginning to wonder why the girl insisted other people were crying in their sleep, or why she insisted on clamping onto either Misato or Asuka every night.

She looked around the corner as she took a drink of beer. Shinji had been terribly quiet the last few days. Without school, he'd been going back and forth between the apartment or the gym or just running around, and had said little, even for him. She heard him turn the shower on and shrugged, going back to her duties.

* * *

><p>Fuyutsuki carefully scanned the surveillance report from the Katsuragi apartment. The new observing agent was less descriptive, as it were, than his predecessor, and mainly stuck to describing the events and sounds he recorded in excruciatingly boring detail. He was pleased to learn that the two pilots were actually learning to work together. As he scanned the report, he noticed something odd.<p>

Shinji had been leaving the apartment at distinctly regular intervals, often well before sunrise. The agent was ordered to observe the apartment and thus didn't follow him, but something about that stoked his curiosity. He sat back in his comfy old office chair, the one he'd dragged out of his office at the university, and decided to ruminate on that for a while.

He picked up his phone and dialed the number for Akagi's lab.

"I need the latest psych report on the boy," he said, without preamble.

"Sir?" a male voice said.

"Who is this?" Fuyutsuki said as he sat up.

"Shigeru Aoba, sir. Doctor Akagi is out today. She said she'd be back in the morning, for the attack."

"What?"

"I don't have any more details, sir. I apologize."

Sighing, he hung up and dialed Akagi's cell phone. She answered on very nearly the last ring and said tiredly, "Hello?"

"Akagi? This is the sub-commander. What are you doing at home?"

There was a short pause. He thought he heard something in the background, a high-pitched giggle and the muffled sounds of Akagi speaking with her hand covering the phone.

"I can't say," she said finally. "I've been working from home for a few days. I have everything I need here."

Fuyutsuki looked around the growing mountain of papework and pinched his nose. "I need the psych report on the boy. Do you have it?"

"I'll e-mail it to you. Will there be anything else?"

"No," he sighed. He held the receiver for a moment. There was definitely someone else there. Akagi hung up.

He stared at the psych report a little while longer, drumming his fingers.

* * *

><p>Asuka sat panting in Misato's kitchen –her kitchen, now- and took a sip of water. Rei sat across the table from her, serenely reading from some book, her chest moving in deep, rapid breaths and the sweat beaded on her forehead the only sign of her exertion. She blithely thumbed through the pages and took a sip of her own water. The little sound she made when she swallowed was profoundly annoying.<p>

All the same, Asuka was starting to like her, in spite of her best efforts not to.

"What is that you're reading?" she asked. "Don't tell me you're keeping up on your school work."

"School is pointless," said Rei. "I am reading 'Thus Spake Zarathustra'."

"What?" Asuka sat up. "You're reading _Nietzsche?_"

"Shinji gave it to me. I have decided to study human literature and philosophy."

She sat back in the chair and took a long drink of water, and winced at the sensation of the cold on her teeth. She brushed her hair out of her eyes –she left her nerve clips out while she exercised- and studied Rei over the bottle. She continued to read in silence. Conversation was not her strong point, which bothered Asuka less and less as she went on. It wasn't that Rei didn't have anything to say- she said nothing that wasn't worth saying, which was striking.

"I've read that," said Asuka. "I went to college."

"I see," said Rei.

Then again, the whole lack of conversation thing could also be profoundly annoying at times.

"Isn't that song from that movie? About the big black rectangle?" said Misato.

Asuka narrowed her eyes at her. Misato shrugged and went back to chewing noisily on some warmed over spiced slop she'd microwaved.

Shinji wandered into the kitchen, procured a plastic cup, and shoveled a scoop of powder into it. He mixed some other powders into it, poured a disturbing amount of water into it, and began mixing it up.

"What is that?" said Asuka.

"Workout shake. Going to the gym."

He slurped down the foul looking concoction, trotted to the door, and left without further comment. She looked after him for a while, finished her water bottle, and tossed it in the garbage can. Misato hopped up and trotted into the living room.

"Come on," she called, "we have a while to practice before bedtime."

Rei turned around and motioned for Asuka to remain seated. She slipped a folded piece of paper out of her book, slid it across the table, and touched her finger to her lips, to suggest silence. Confused, Asuka touched her fingers to it and pulled it across the surface, then unfolded it, glancing around the doorway at Misato, who was busily playing the damn game herself, bouncing around like an idiot.

Written in a simple, unpracticed hand, in German, was "APARTMENT IS BUGGED. NEED TO TALK OUTSIDE. S."

Her eyes widened, and she realized Rei was staring at her intently. She carefully tore the paper into small scraps and stuffed it into the garbage can, then followed Rei out into the living room to continue her training.

Sometime later, after setting about ten new high scores, Shinji returned, drenched in sweat. He paused in the kitchen, wiping his head down with a towel, and slowly drank a water bottle. He studied Asuka and Rei as they practiced for a while, then tossed the bottle in the trash can.

"I'm going for a walk," he said.

Asuka waited for the song to stop. "Can I go with him?"

"Don't be long," Misato shrugged. "Are you going, Rei?"

"No," said Rei. She bent down and fished around in Misato's video game collection. "I would like to play 'Mortal Kombat' instead."

Misato looked at her like she'd grown three heads.

Quickly, Asuka grabbed a pair of sweatpants, pulled it on over her leotard, and trotted after Shinji, catching up to him as he strolled down the sidewalk at a leisurely pace, apparently studying the sunset.

"What do you mean, the apart-"

"Not yet," was all he said, continuing to walk.

She shrugged and kept walking, following him as he aimlessly made his way down the road, away from the apartment. He turned down a side street, which was empty; no one else was actually allowed to be out at this hour, due to the 'emergency'. He looked around a few times as he came to a stop near a small convenience store, which was of course closed.

He looked at her and said, "Where's your mother?"

"What?" she snapped. "What business of it is yours?"

"You've made friends with that Horaki girl, right?"

"What? I-"

"Where's _her_ mother? Toji and Kensuke's mothers are both dead, and they _both worked for Nerv."_

She sat down at an empty table in front of a sidewalk café. "What are you saying?"

"I've read their files," he said quietly. "You know who else has a deceased mother who was involved with Nerv, or Gehirn? _Every student in our class. _Including _us."_

"How do you know that?"

"I said," he sat down opposite her, "I read their files."

She crossed her arms. "You don't have access. If these 'files' even exist, they'd be classified."

"I know someone with access to the MAGI system. The supercomputer."

Her eyes narrowed. "Who?"

"I can't tell you yet," he said quietly. "You'll never believe me, but I know things, Asuka Langley Soryu. Secret things that are mine, and mine alone. I know about a doll, and a rope, and a doctor."

Asuka stood straight up, and knocked the chair over behind her. It clanged on the sidewalk, the sound reverberating in the growing darkness. She took a step back from the table and nearly tripped over it. She widened the gap between them as she moved, spreading her arms and opening her eyes wide as if she were confronting a wild animal.

"How the _fuck _do you know that? Huh? _Huh?"_

"I know many things."

There were tears at the corner of her eyes. She blinked them away. "Never talk about that, never ever _ever!" _

He stood up. "You're like me. You were born that day, the way I was born they took my mother from me. They stole her _face_ from me, her _voice. _It's all gone."

"I'm not hearing this," she said as she started to turn.

"I know what you want," he said, his voice rising. "I felt your rage, your _anger._ You're furious at yourself, but it's not your fault. They did this to you, and to me, and to Rei, and to all the others. They made us what they are for their sick game."

She started to run.

"I know what you want! _I know what you want!" _

She realized he was right behind her. He must have been faking it at the apartment, he wasn't even winded.

"Get away from me!" she nearly shrieked, running without even knowing where she was going.

"I won't hurt you! Even if I wanted to, I couldn't hurt you as much as they already have!"

She stumbled to a stop, fell, and covered her ears. "I don't want to hear this! _Shut up! Shut up!"_

"_Kyoko_," Shinji snapped, "that was her name, wasn't it? _Wasn't it?"_

"Leave me alone," she sobbed. "Get away from me!"

"_Kyoko Soryu! Say it! __**Say it!**__"_

"K-k-Kyoko S-s-Soryu…" she sobbed, crushing her face into her arms. She curled in the fetal position, and pushed herself up against the door of some building.

He knelt beside her. "I can't bring her back, but I can give you something else."

"W-What?"

"_Revenge,"_ he whispered.

She said nothing, and remained there, quivering. He sat down beside her, staring into the sun. "I won't force you to do anything. It has to be your choice. I want you by my side. I've seen your strength."

"Strength?" she snapped, her vision blurred by tears. "You call this strength?"

"You have a university degree. You speak three languages. You pilot Eva. You're a warrior born and trained all your life." He reached out, gingerly, and touched her cheek. "This, this is strength. It takes strength to remember. Not to crush it down. Not to run away."

She said nothing.

"Did you watch it?"

She looked at him, hard. Carefully, she wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Yes."

A slow, predatory grin spread across his face.

"What? I don't care about some stupid movie-"

"That's not the _point," _he snapped. "It's not about a movie. It's about _ideas._ The man who masters himself masters the universe. You have the drive, I've seen it. They had surveillance on you around the clock, you know. I know you used sit for hours, studying me. You wanted to know my secret. I'll tell you what it is, but you have to answer something for me first."

"What?"

He leaned close to her. "What is the Riddle of Steel?"

* * *

><p>"Sub Zero wins," the television boomed <em>again<em>, "Flawless Victory."

Misato tossed her controller down in disgust. Rei stared at her blankly.

"I do not cheat," said Rei, cutting off Misato's accusation.

"Have you played this game before?"

She shook her head. Misato sighed. The door opened, and she jumped up and rushed to it. Asuka walked inside. There was an odd look on her face, and she could see tear tracks on her cheeks. In a panic, Misato grabbed her by the arms.

"What's wrong? Where's Shinji?"

"He'll be back," Asuka said quietly.

"Did he… do something to you? You look upset."

"No," she said, meeting Misato's gaze. "He helped me. We need to sleep. The battle is tomorrow."

Misato let go of her and watched her stalk towards the bathroom. She stood in the living room staring at the door for a moment.

"Perhaps we should try another game," said Rei. "What is 'Street Fighter Three'?"

* * *

><p>Asuka's eyes snapped open. It was dark, probably past midnight, edging towards the dawn, that time when the light is furthest away. Beside her, Rei lay motionless, hands folded on her chest, breathing slow, peaceful breaths. Misato, on the other hand, lay curled in a ball and was making sounds that could be charitably compared to a pig making love to a chainsaw. She sat up a little and scanned the room for a clock, realized Misato had set her phone for an alarm, and put her head back down. Misato stirred a little, stopped snoring for an instant, and then rolled over and flopped her arm across Rei.<p>

She rolled onto her side and drew her legs up to her chest, pulling her blanket around herself.

"You are cold?" Rei whispered. She still didn't open her eyes.

"It's not that," she whispered back. "I can't sleep."

"You were asleep a moment ago."

"I know," Asuka hissed, sharply. "I mean I can't sleep _now._"

"You should try."

"Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"It will come whether I am ready for it or not."

"I guess," she said.

"It is certain," said Rei. "There is no need to guess."

Asuka rolled her eyes. "Why do you take everything so literally?"

"Why don't you?"

"What is this, twenty questions?"

"No," Rei whispered. "It is time to sleep."

Asuka huffed, pressed her eyes tightly shut, and drew in a deep breath. Blackness overwhelmed her, and when she awoke, sunlight peeked under the living room curtains, painting a line of brightness along the far wall. She remained motionless as Shinji slid his door open, padded out of his room in a jogging suit and sneakers, and left the apartment without a word.

"Where does he go?" she whispered.

"I do not know," said Rei. "He leaves every morning. You have not noticed?"

"No. I'm going back to sleep."

It seemed like a minute later, Misato's phone started beeping. Shinji sat against the far wall, legs folded under him, in his school uniform, watching them with a quiet smile on his face. Asuka sat up first, followed by Rei. Misato rolled around moaning for a moment before she finally managed to get up on all fours and remain so, moaning, for a while.

"Why can't the angels ever attack at noon," she groaned.

"Several angels have attacked in the late afternoon or evening," said Rei, "also, it-"

"Rei," Misato said to the floor. "I like you, but shut up."

"Very well," said Rei. "I will take a shower first."

"Remember the rule!"

"I know. I am not to disrobe until I am in the bathroom."

"They're not going to let me fight," Shinji said quietly.

Misato glared at him. "I have orders. So do you."

He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall.

"What's the matter?" Asuka snapped. "Don't think us poor little girls can handle it?"

Shinji only smirked.

* * *

><p>Misato let out a slow breath and realized, with some trepidation and a great deal of quivering in her stomach, that she had entrusted the survival of the human race, her entire civilization and species, to a video game. She felt a certain wave of relief as she watched the in-plug feeds of Asuka and Rei in their Evas. Each of them had assumed the same position, the same slack facial expression, they'd even synchronized their breathing. If this worked, they'd only need a minute and the thing would be destroyed, vanquished, the battle over and the victory theirs.<p>

There was another feed, of course. Shinji hadn't been deployed, but he was suited up and in his Eva anyway. He hadn't synched yet- he was just sitting there in electrolyzed LCL, his legs drawn up under his body. He looked unusually serene. He leaned his head back ever so slightly and his eyes went from being pressed shut to lidded slightly. She could sworn they were green, but that wasn't right.

"We have movement," Aoba called out in front of her.

"All systems are nominal," Ibuki said over her shoulder.

"Pilots," said Misato, "Ready?"

"Roger," they said, in perfect unison.

"Start moving. Blowing the umbilicals in five seconds."

Both Evangelions surged forward, each perfectly shadowing the other as they ran. The cables dropped, the retro-rockets fired, and they fell backward just as the angel dropped its field and began to move. Asuka and Rei leapt at the same instant and came down on the angel's two halves, knocking them back. Each grabbed an arm and spun the dazed creatures about, slamming them into each other. With surprising grace, they dodged the creature's raking claws and closed in on it, leapt, and as one, planted the Evas' heels in the twin cores at the same instant, shattering them.

Unit Zero nailed the landing perfectly. Asuka, a moment later, copied the motion, coming to rest in ankle-deep water before the ruined form of the angel. Mercilessly efficient, the entire attack took a mere thirty seconds.

"Great work," Misato announced. "We'll have you out in a few minutes. Sit tight. Shinji, you can get out of the plug now."

* * *

><p>Fuyutsuki winced and squinted as he emerged into daylight. As his immediate subordinate, it was his duty to welcome the Commander back to the installation and inform him of what transpired in his absence, or rather, to finish filling him in. They hadn't spoken since Shinji's misadventure at the school, as both had been quite busy since then.<p>

Stepping out of the car, he took a breath of unprocessed air for the first time in weeks, and delighted in it, as much as the sun annoyed him. He waited patiently as Gendo descended the stair from the small private jet and walked beside him in silence. Neither of them spoke until they were seated in the car and the door closed.

"You've had this car swept for bugs," said Gendo.

"Naturally."

"So. The seventh was defeated without issue?"

"There was a minor delay, and the JSSDF insisted on interfering during the opening sortie. I'm afraid I'm less adept at cowing them."

"I see," said Gendo. "The status of the Evangelions?"

"Intact. One and Two suffered superficial damage during the initial attack, but it has already been repaired."

"And the pilots?"

"Katsuragi moved the Soryu girl into her apartment and trained here to synchronize her movements with Rei. It was quiet ingenious on her part, actually."

"The school?"

"I have no doubt they will cooperate with us," Fuyutsuki replied, gazing out the window as the car began to move. He left the question to hang in between them, unsaid.

"I've spoken with the Nevada installation," Gendo said, apropos of nothing. "They will be transporting Unit Three here for testing. Its arrival will roughly coincide with the predicted attack by the Thirteenth, unfortunately."

"Yes," said Fuyutsuki. "That will be unfortunate, won't it?"

"Indeed," Gendo replied. "I've had time to consider our problem with the pilots. I have a solution in mind. If he becomes difficult to manage, I believe he will respond quickly to my _argument._"

* * *

><p>Having deposited Gendo back in his cave, Fuyutsuki did the sensible thing for a man in his position to do after three weeks with a doubled workload. He took the day off. Nevertheless, he rose quite early. It took him several re-reads of the report he'd carefully gone over, and then deleted from the system, and whose author he'd transferred out of the city, before he could decide exactly when to rise. He waited calmly for the sun to break over the horizon, and there cast long shadows from the rows upon rows of aluminum poles marking the lives lost in Second Impact.<p>

On cue, the boy came jogging between them. He trotted to a stop before one marker and fell to his knees in front of it. Fuyutsuki pulled his hat down over his eyes and began walking, feeling every step in his aged knees. He sometimes envied the young their vigor, as absurd as that was given the overall situation. It took him a full five minutes to stroll from the tree to the gravesite, that of Yui Ikari.

Shinji knelt in front of it still. He didn't look up. "Hello, Professor."

"Shinji," said Fuyutsuki.

"I thought you would be here sooner," Shinji said softly.

"I was here first," Fuyutsuki deadpanned.

"I meant, I thought you'd notice my behavior and track me down sooner."

Fuyutsuki sighed, and slid the gun out of his pocket. He trained it on Shinji's back and stood there for a moment.

"That isn't necessary, _Professor_."

"I'm not here to play a game with you, Shinji," he replied, keeping the gun pointed at him. "I have a sneaking suspicion that there is more to you than some of my colleagues believe."

"You didn't know about them until you bailed him out," said Shinji.

"Excuse me?"

"At a bar. There was a fight. He was arrested. You bailed him out. You resented that afterwards, always wondered if maybe she would have reciprocated your feelings, even after I was born."

"How do you know that? Did your father tell you that?"

Shinji turned his head slowly. "If it's a boy, Shinji. If it's a girl, Rei."

Fuyutsuki took a step back. "Where did you hear that?"

"I talked to someone who was there," he said, a barely noticeable smirk on his lips.

Fuyutsuki's hand was shaking. "That's not possible."

"Put that away," he glanced at the gun. "We both know there's no point in shooting me."

With a sigh, he put the gun back in his pocket, but kept his hand on it, affecting a casual stance. "I don't know what you mean to do, Shinji, but you're just a boy. They wouldn't let you near the Evangelion if they thought you planned to stop them."

"Of course," said Shinji. "I wouldn't either."

"So what do you mean to do?"

"About the committee, you mean, and Seele, and my father."

"Yes."

Shinji's eyes became cold, and fixed on Fuyutsuki's own.

"I mean to kill them all."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

For all that Misato was frustrated by Nerv's bureaucratic nonsense most of the time, it shocked her how quickly the organization could move when it wanted to, and in almost complete secrecy. Standing on an overlook on the slopes of Asama, she watched a long line of tractor trailers snaking their way towards the temporary command post, a collection of trailers and portable buildings that sprung up like mushrooms around the science station that had first discovered the subterranean angel with ground penetrating radar. The work crews were already laying the temporary track that the Eva carriers would roll over to the staging area on the mountainside. The relatively peaceful countryside had been turned into a bustling industrial area almost overnight, and in a week it would be gone.

Or they would be dead.

She pulled the collar of her uniform jacket up –it had been so long since she'd felt a cold breeze she was no longer used to it- and headed to the trailer that housed the temporary command area with the Magi link and the recording equipment that would be used to monitor the Evangelions on the slopes of the volcano during the operation. A crawler, not unlike the one used to transport the American Space Shuttles, was piece-by-piecing bringing in the high pressure diving equipment that would be fitted to Unit Two when it eventually arrived, allowing Asuka to penetrate the volcano and, hopefully, capture the embryonic angel. That was the idea, at least.

Ritsuko and Maya were busily at work setting up whatever it was needing setting up with the computer systems. Misato sometimes regretted that she had absolutely no idea what some of her nominal subordinates did, but such was the way of command- if she was an expert she would be doing those jobs, not giving the orders.

"How are we doing?"

"We're making excellent time," said Ritsuko. "Once everything is set up here, we can start working on the forward control station at the edge of the crater."

"Good," Misato nodded. "You're awfully chipper today."

Ritsuko stood up and arched her back, giving Misato a sardonic glance, but said nothing. Beside her, Maya typed even more furiously, hunching down as if she were trying to hide.

"How are the pilots?"

"Asuka threw a fit when I told he she couldn't go on the class trip," Misato sighed. "This would be so much easier if the pilots were adults. It weirds me out sometimes, just thinking about it."

"What about the commander?"

"Remaining at the base. Some muckety muck from the United Nations is flying in this week for a meeting or something. I don't care, I'd rather work without Creepy McStare eyeballing my ass for once."

Maya burst out laughing, and Ritsuko shot her an annoyed glance. "What was that you were saying about working with adults?"

Misato shrugged. "They have school today, and then they'll be on their way out with some Section 2 agents. Happy?"

* * *

><p>It wasn't long after the ending bell that Rei tapped Asuka on the shoulder and said, "Come with me."<p>

Asuka stood up and pulled her knapsack onto her shoulder, and made sure to stand to her full height. "What for?"

"We are leaving soon. Shinji would like to speak with us first."

"Why can't he speak with us right here?"

Rei's blank stare unnerved her a little. "I can't say."

"Whatever," Asuka shrugged. "Where are we going?"

"Follow me."

Without further comment, Rei walked out of the classroom and through the halls, out into the back lawn behind the school, where there was a path curving up into the hills. She had to work her way over a fallen fence post as she followed Rei between the trees. In the distance, she smelled something burning, and sniffed the air, curious. It reminded her of a barbecue.

The path wound among the trees, to and fro, until the ruins of buildings began to appear on either side, consumed by the lush vegetation. They were either the remnants of a pre-Second Impact site, or abandoned after the construction of the city and left to be reclaimed by the forest. The air here was cool, and smelled of the earth.

"What is this place?"

"Shinji found it while he was hiking," said Rei. "We are almost there."

She stopped at a lintel arch that crossed the narrow path. The logs that made it up had been freshly and roughly cut, the ends looking like they'd been broken apart as much as chopped with an axe. The implement in question lay propped against a nearby tree, the blade worn dull by the work. Rei rested her hand on the arch.

"Before entering, you must swear never to speak of what transpires here."

"What exactly 'transpires here'?"

"I can't say," said Rei.

She crossed her arms. "This is ridiculous. Let's get this over with. I swear to whatever it is."

"That will do," Rei shrugged, and ducked under the arch. Asuka followed.

The path wound towards, and came to an end at, a squat round building without windows. Rough beams criss-crossed the open roof, laid on top of one another, and she saw a ladder and toolboxes piled up under a tarp not far from the door. A series of camouflage tarps had been swen together and were lashed to the timbers, forming a gently sloping cloth roof with a hole in the center from which a thin column of dark smoke issued. Rei went to the rough opening at the front and pulled back a thick canvas cloth.

The inside of the structure was dark, lit only by the low, fickering fire, barely more than coals, set up in a ring of stones at the center of the tile floor, which had been carefully swept clean. She wasn't sure what the building used to be, an office or something, maybe. Shinji sat poking at the dying fire with a long stick, staring into it as if it would grant some kind of an answer to a difficult question. He hardly seemed to notice her until Rei approached and sat down to his left.

"What is this place?" Asuka demanded.

He looked up at her without moving his head much, mostly moving his eyes. "This is our warrior lodge."

"Where did you come up with this?"

"It was my idea," said Rei.

"We three are the first of many," said Shinji. "We have tasted battle. We will be the first. Others will come."

"What others?"

"Toji and Kensuke, the other boys. You and Rei will bring the girls into the Lodge. They won't trust me yet."

"What is the point of this, again?"

"We are the future," said Shinji. "Remember what I told you, about the students mothers?"

She tensed up. "Yes," she said guardedly, looking at Rei.

"Be calm," said Rei. "There are no secrets between members of the Lodge."

"You should talk," said Asuka. "You've got lots of secrets, I'll bet. It's not every day you meet an albino with blue hair. _Natural_ blue hair. Who is a freaking _nudist." _

"I am not a nudist," Rei corrected her sharply. "I simply do not see the point of-"

Shinj raised a hand, and they both fell silent. "I have learned why we are all orphans, why we are gathered here."

"Well?" said Asuka, "Why?"

"It's not time for you to learn, yet. You have to find out on your own."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"The point is that the entire class is potential pilots," Shinji added.

"So?"

"So," said Rei, "we will build bonds of fraternity between them and us, and win over their loyalty."

"Why? There's only three Evas, anyway." Asuka said as she sat down. "What's the point?"

"The Americans are building two more, and work has begun on mass production models."

"Okay," said Asuka, "so what? It's not like you can go get them."

"No," Shinji smiled, the edges of his lips barely turning up, "when they're ready, I won't have to."

"I don't see how you learned all of this stuff."

He fixed his gaze on her. "Have I been wrong so far?"

"No," she said softly, turning away.

"I have my ways. They will become your ways when you learn."

"Learn what?"

"You must open your heart to Eva." Said Rei.

"What does _that_ mean? Open my heart? It's a machine. Wonderboy the barbarian here can do some weird shit with the test type, but it's still a machine, built by scientists. It's a big doll I can push around, and that's it."

"That is why you fail," said Rei.

Asuka threw her arms up in frustration. "Oh, great, thanks Yoda. That's very helpful."

"You've felt it before," said Shinji. "You know what I mean."

She found herself blushing, without quite knowing why. "We need to go," she said quickly, "the'll come looking for us."

"Just remember what to say if someone asks you about the lodge," said Shinji.

"What?" said Asuka.

"I can't say."

* * *

><p>Misato met the car herself. The armored limousine rolled up to the perimeter and squealed to a stop, rocking on its strained suspension. Shinji emerged first, and helped Rei step out. He offered a hand to Asuka and she dismissed him with an imperious wave, which seemed to amuse him greatly. She stalked over to them and crossed her arms.<p>

"You're late. What took you so long?"

"I can't say," Asuka snickered.

Misato scowled at them. "Rei, Section 2 will escort you down to the lower staging area. You're on the positron gun if there's an emergency."

"It has never been tested," said Rei.

"Let's hope we don't have to use it. Just go. You two are coming with me to the briefing."

She turned and started marching up the slope to the trailer set up as the briefing room for the pilots, huffing as she did. The air was a bit thinner up here, and the cold didn't agree with her either.

"Quit looking at her butt," Asuka snapped.

She looked over her shoulder in time to catch Shinji snapping his eyes up to meet hers, a wry grin on his face. She stuck her tongue out at him and went on up the path and finally opened the trailer for them with her keycard.

"I thought you were supposed to be the adult," Asuka said sullenly.

"Let us eat ,drink, and be merry," Misato shrugged, "for tomorrow, we die."

Shinji laughed heartily, and Asuka only began to sulk further, crossing her arms under her chest. She sat down in one of the folding chairs around the table and Shinji joined her, leaning it back on its legs at a disturbing angle. He immediately put his feet up on the table and Asuka rolled her eyes at him. Misato sat on the edge of the table and picked up the remote control for the projector.

"This is the angel," she said as the image of an embryonic creature appeared on the screen, outline in black against a white field. "Detected with ground penetrating sonar by a seismic survey team last week."

"It looks like a baby," said Asuka.

"It _is_ a baby. We know almost nothing about their physiology or life cycle. This apparently where they come from. Our plan is to either capture it or destroy it before it can emerge and grow into its adult form."

"Do you have any idea what it will be?"

"Ritsuko thinks that its environment will shape it somehow, but that's just a guess, so no."

"So how are we going to capture it?"

"We're going to lower Unit Two into the volcano, and-"

"_What?"_

Shinji sat up, and the legs of his chair clacked on the floor. He leaned forward. "You want to lower her _into _the volcano?"

"It's our only option. The D-Type equipment will-"

"I'll go," Shinji cut her off. "Put it on Unit One."

"We can't," Misato crossed her arms. "It's not compatible."

"Then let me pilot it."

"No!" Asuka snapped.

"No, Shinji," Misato said firmly. "I don't want you going all frothing screaming berserk in the middle of a volcano. This requires precision and control."

He sat back.

"Why can't we wait for it to surface?"

"We've been ordered to retrieve it. That's it."

His eyes narrowed. "Ordered by who?"

"Who do you think? The Commander," she said, suppressing a pang of nervousness.

She saw his jaw clench. To her surprise, Asuka rested her hand on his shoulder, and to her even greater surprise, when she tugged on him a little he responded, falling back against the back of his chair.

"It's okay. I want to do this. I don't need you to defend me, anyway."

"But the l…" he trailed off.

Misato eyed him. "What?"

He met her gaze. "I can't say."

* * *

><p>Asuka immediately hated the D-Type equipment.<p>

When she saw Unit Two, _her_ Unit Two, standing at the edge of the crater dressed up in some sort of ridiculous diving suit, its sleek lines hidden beneath formless gray matte steel, she involuntarily grit her teeth. Even worse was the ridiculous pressure suit she had to wear, which thankfully she only had to activate once she was actually in the plug.

She lowered herself into the chair, gave the signal to the technicians, and they slid the door of the plug closed. LCL began to filter into the chamber, cool and foul smelling, and she shivered until the small electrical current began to warm it. When it reached chin level she rocked her head back, blew out her breath, and took in a deep lungful of the stuff, almost retching at the shock. It felt colder than usual, and she could never quite shake the sensation of drowning despite all this time.

She felt it when the synch activated, felt the massive pressure suit closed around her, restraining her limbs, hampering her movement. She raised Unit Two from its crouch and stomped over to the loading apparatus, where the mechanical arms would connect the cooling cables and steel wires to her back, allowing them suspsend her into the volcano. She felt the grinding sensation as the connections were made and the huge clamp locked into place, securely rigging the armor and allowing the umbilical to connect. The battery indicator vanished, replaced by the standard green power brick.

She sat back and waited, feeling the sway as the crane pulled her up, relieving pressure on joints that weren't hers. She couldn't see very well through the helmet over Unit Two's head, but she could see Shinji crouched in Unit One at the edge of the crater, his Evangelion hunched like an animal, umbilical coiled behind it like a tail. It moved organically, as if it was breathing, and she could swear she could see the mouth moving beneath the armored plating of its face, straining at the steel. It assumed a warrior's crouch, arms resting on thighs, relaxed but ready to spring into motion.

She tried to open a comm link to him, but as usual, the interference forced it to be sound only.

"I'm going to be fine."

She could swear the static was growing worse. Was he talking to someone? She thought she heard a female voice. Misato?

Speak of the devil. "Are you ready, Asuka?"

"Yes," she said. "Let's do this."

Beside here, there was a series of thundering thumps as the mining laser fired into the magma pool below, softening it enough that she could sink into it. As it lowered her down, she fought to control her breathing, to keep calm, but her heart raced anyway. As she felt the heat surging up through Unit Two's legs, she felt a strange sensation, only for a moment, as if someone was embracing her from behind, resting a warm cheek to hers. She did relax, then, and let herself go limp in the chair. It would be several minutes until she actually approached the creature.

She pulled Unit Two's arms up and readied the cage, the folding electrical wire contraption that would constrain the creature as she pulled it to the surface. She repositioned herself in the seat, hunched forward to see what she was doing, and raised the cage in front of her point of view. She could barely make it out- they'd fitted some kind of sonar thing to the Evangelion so she could actually see, otherwise there would be nothing but the red hot glow of the molten rock, and she'd essentially be flying blind.

"We're reaching the depth limit," Misato announced. The direct line through the umbilical let them see each other.

"Keep going. I think I see it."

"But-"

"I said, keep going. I'm completing this mission."

"Okay," said Misato.

She did see it, a shapeless blob in the distance. She engaged the thrust mechanism on the back of the armor suit and moved forward with agonizing slowness. It occurred to her that she could get out and run faster than this, and she giggled despite herself. She shook her head and tried to focus. It was probably the nerves. That funny feeling came back, the weird almost-sense of someone about to touch her, caressing her shoulders.

She reached out and pulled the cage around the embryo, then clicked the button on the control yoke to activate it. It buzzed to life around the angel.

"I have it. Bring me up."

She felt the cable system beginning to grind as it pulled her upward, dragging the angel with it, again with a grating slowness. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she was sweating. She bit her teeth together and felt her lungs starting to burn, and was afraid she was going to start hyperventilating in the LCL, which would knock her out from the fatigue in a few minutes. She forced herself to open her mouth and take long, slow, shaking breaths, trying to keep herself calm.

She felt a shudder in her hands.

"Oh, oh shit," she snapped, "It's moving!"

Misato appeared on the screen in front of her. "Drop it, Asuka! Get rid of it!"

Hastily, she released the cage, and Misato turned to her left. "Full speed on the crane, get her out!"

It came through the comm system, but she felt it anyway, rumbling through the earth itself, even this far down. Unit One was roaring. Misato's face became a mask of shock and she turned off screen.

"No! Don't! Stay calm, she'll be fine! Stay out of the volcano! _Shinji!" _

She was distracted. She didn't see it coming. It moved like a fish in the water, boring through the rock with astonishing speed. It was a shapeless mass at first, and then elongated, folding out long tentacles like the feelers on a moth's head, or the long central arms of a great squid. She felt the pressure around her body as it clamped onto Unit Two, crushing her arms to her side. The display in front of her went dark as it tore off the sonar. She wriggled, trying to force herself free, and heard the first crunch as it bit her, bit into the armor.

Fire lanced into her back, like it was burning into her own body, and she screamed. The angel reached up, wrapped itself around the cable assembly, and pulled once, twice, three times, and with sharp shudder the whole thing came loose and she felt herself sinking and she was screaming, screaming from the fire in her back and she almost didn't hear herself screaming _"Mama! Mama!" _

She heard something, somehow ,not over her own scream but under it, like it was in her own head.

_Mama is here._

* * *

><p>The temporary command center was in a frenzy. Misato fought to raise her voice enough to be heard over all the shouting. Shinji was screaming that he was going into get her out and Unit One's earth shaking cries made the glass in the windows vibrate every time it raised its head and bellowed in fury. Frantically, she'd given the order to retract the umbilical. Locked out from detaching it, Shinji could only pull against it, dig great furrows in the slope of the volcano with Unit One's feet as he tried to tear free and dive into the crater.<p>

"Wait," Maya shrieked, "the third stage connections are reversing! It's going berserk!"

"Tell me something I don't know!" Misato snapped.

"Not Shinji!" Maya cried, "Unit Two!"

Unit One crouched and turned towards them, and Misato could feel the weight of its gaze, as if it was looking directly at her. Had he heard them somehow? It turned to peer over the crater, leaning on the edge like an animal taking a drink from a pool of water. It reeled backwards as a great flash of light and heat rolled up from the depths of the volcano, rocking it backwards. Unit One scrambled for purchase, almost sliding down the slope.

Covered in white-hot steel plates that dangled and fell from its body like cloth, a scorched and broken Unit Two crawled up and out of the crater, threw its head back, and roared, the armor over its face torn open to reveal great block teeth beneath. It stood up on the edge of the crater and took a few sliding steps down, and then began tearing the white hot remnants of the D-Type equipment away, snarling and tearing at them like an animal.

"It's too hot," Maya said, her voice cracking. "We have to get her out, it's too hot."

"How the hell are we going to-"

Unit One walked up slowly behind Unit Two, as if it were approaching a dangerous animal. Unit Two started to turn, but before it could, Shinji came up behind it, looped arms under its shoulders, and held the other Eva, pressing the white armor to himself. Over the comm system, he let out on a quiet grunt as he lifted her up, brought the Eva's feet up just enough that he could duck walk down the side of the mountain.

"Major," Aoba shouted, "We have a problem. The angel is still active, and it's tunneling towards the city. We just picked it up on the seismic monitors."

"Patch me through to Rei."

"Major?" said Rei.

"Rei, drop the rifle and run towards Tokyo-3. You have to get to the Geofront as fast as you can."

"My battery will not be sufficient for-"

"Stretch out the umbilical as far as you can, then drop it. There's another one within range. Run it like a relay race. I'll have the techs plot you a course and put it on your heads up display."

"Roger. I am on my way."

From the other side of the mountain, Unit Zero jumped up, dropped the massive rifle and broke into a sprint, each step sending jarring shocks up through Misato's feet. She turned back to her other problems.

"Status on Asuka and Shinji?"

"See for yourself," Maya pointed.

Unit One had torn off the backmost section of Unit Two's armor, slid the entry plug free, and put on the ground. There it remained crouched where Shinji had broken the synchronization and ejected himself. He walked towards the mountain on foot, towards an oncoming medical crew, Asuka cradled in his arms, a grim look on his face.

She ran out of the trailer.

She broke into a sprint, and then a jog, and then sort of a trot, almost out of breath as she reached them. They'd loaded Asuka onto a stretcher and had a neck brace on her, and were cutting off her plugsuit. Shinji stood beside her with a look of grim, fixed finality on his face, his eyes as hot as the smoldering metal piled on the mountain behind him. He clenched his fists and his lips peeled back.

He had _fangs_.

She took a step back in horror as he gaze settled on her. The irises of his eyes, like chips of blue ice, had settled in green, the whites of his eyes turned a pale green, and he was shaking. He took a step towards her, his lips sliding back over his teeth, and something came over him when he fixed his eyes on her face. He forced himself to stop, shakingly visibly. When he opened his eyes they were his own again, and he sank to his knees. He tore the nerv clips out of his hair, bringing a clump of it with them, and with a grunt threw them so far she didn't see where they came down, and clutched his head.

She sank down beside him. He was so hot to the touch he almost burned her but she hugged him anyway and he hugged back, crushing her to him so hard it nearly hurt.

"Oh God," she whispered, "I'm so sorry, I didn't-"

"It's not your fault," he whispered into her ear.

Without releasing her, he leaned back.

"Help her. Get in the ambulance. All of you. _**Now.**_"

As if Commander Ikari himself had barked an order at them, the medical technicians filed into the ambulance after Asuka and closed the doors behind them.

"She will live," said Shinji. "The warrior spirit is in her now."

Misato sank against him, the tension going out of her muscles. "I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I lied to you. This wasn't your father's idea, it was mine. I'm so… so…"

"No," he whispered, "I need strength now. It's almost time. Almost. I didn't want to show my hand this early, but Rei can't do this alone. Go with Asuka and be strong for her. Please."

She was still trembling as he released her, and set her gently on the ground.

"B-but there's no support system, we need a crane t-"

He touched a finger to his lips for silence and grinned, grinned under his blood matted hair and turned up the slope to Unit One.

"Rise," he whispered.

With a roar, it answered him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Asuka came to consciousness as if she'd fallen into her body from a great height, and the effect was the same. It took her some time to simply open her right eye, only about halfway, and swirl her vision around the room. It would not have taken her genius intellect to discern that she was in a hospital, and the blurred field of white around her and the beeping of machines only confirmed it. Her throat burned with thirst, and it took an effort to croak "Water".

She felt a straw touch her lip, worked her lips around it, and pulled in a delicious, cold mouthful of ice water. She was immediately relieved, but only for a moment. Her thirst relieved, she was assaulted by the plague of sensations coursing through her body. The left side of her face was pulled tight, and she could feel the bandages, from forehead to chin. Her left arm felt the same, and she couldn't move her fingers, held tight by the bandages. To her relief she could feel her legs, though she lacked the strength to move them. What worried her was the void she felt in her left eye socket, a coldness that wasn't quite pain, and an intense itching all around it.

"They took my eye," she rasped.

"Yes," said Rei. "Are you still thirsty?"

She nodded, or tried to nod, not even sure if she made the gesture at all, but Rei helped her drink and she was grateful. "How bad is it?"

"Your injuries were extensive. Without immersion in LCL, you would not have survived. Your left arm, face, and back will be severely scarred. I am sorry."

She lay for a long moment, staring up at the ceiling.

"Where is he? Why isn't he here?"

"He is confined to the detention cells. He made me promise to look after you, and tell you he will come for you when he can."

"Did he do something wrong?"

"I do not know."

"The angel, is it dead?"

"Yes."

"Tell me what happened."

Rei snapped her book shut, and told her.

* * *

><p>The thundering shudder of each step ran up Unit Zero's legs and into Rei's own, but she ignored it and pressed on, her face a mask of grim determination. With each bounding step she drew nearer Tokyo-3. She would skid to a stop, soon, replace the umbilical, take it as far as it would go, and release it once more. It would take her a full six minutes to make the run, the last of which would be on battery power as she approached the city and dropped into the Geofront. It would be a close run thing.<p>

She traced along the optimized route the Magi had prepared for her, keeping as far ahead of the red blot of the seismic readings of the angel's movements as well as she could. In her readings she had begun to study strategy, and the nature of the angel's attacks began to make sense to her. The first attacking angel was simply a probe. Where it had failed by land, the second came by air, better equipped for close combat than its predecessor. When that failed, the creature destroyed by simply being torn to pieces, the next angel attacked from afar. The next angel to actually attack the city split itself in half, dviding its efforts to succeeded where unity of purpose had faltered. Only the aquatic angel, which had elected to attack via the water, eluded her.

The intent of the most recent one was clear. The others had failed in attacking on land or above it, so it would come from below, tunnel under the Geofront and attack from a direction they were not prepared to defend. It would be a close run thing.

She crested the hills that ringed the city, dropped the umbilical, and ran down among the streets. Where the optimized path carried her over a building she simply ran through it, trusting that the evacuation had emptied it. In the end, it mattered little, as they would die anyway. When she reached the open deployment shaft she jumped with both feet together through the opening and tore into the sides with her fingers, digging deep funnels in the concrete and long trails of sparks. It took nearly thirty seconds for her to reach the staging area, dart through the cage, taking an umbilical as she did, and burst out onto the surface of the Geofront, palette rifle in hand.

She was just barely in time.

Breaching like a whale breaches the ocean, the angel, vast and broad and shimmering with heat, erupted from the side wall in the distance, a cascade of molten rock and sulphurous smoke around it. Instinctively, Rei snapped into position with the rifle and emptied the magazine, the rymthic thump-thump-thump of detonation shuddering up her arm. The shells burst upon the creature's rocky back, and there dug out deep elliptical craters, but if it felt the impacts it showed no sign. As it neared her it dove down, setting the forested floor of the geofront aflame. She dropped the rifle and looked to the arming tower set beside the headquarters pyramid for weapons, but there was no point and she knew it.

It came up from under her. Its rocky body unfolded as it breached the surface again, long feelers of rubbery flesh spreading out from inside. It pulled her down by the legs, slammed her to earth, and she felt it biting into her back and screamed. She was not disturbed that she was going to die. Ultimately, she could still be replaced. She hoped that some of her memories of Shinji's touch would be preserved by the link, and that he would not grieve too much, and that Unit Zero would remain operational.

With a half human scream. Unit One simple tore open the roof of the Geofront, ripping a great gouge in the layers of armor and packed earth with its bare hands, wreathed in shimmering forces of its AT-Field. Blazing, licking flames erupted from its back like wings, folding and furling on themselves into a trailing column of white hot fury that followed it to the Geofront floor, where it crouched like an animal and unleashed a ululating cry of challenge to the angel. It simply dropped Rei and turned to the more pressing target.

She wasn't sure if the voice was coming through the comm channel, or somehow inside her own skull. "_You hurt Rei! __**You! Hurt! Asuka!"**_

Without regard for anything but his fury, Shinji screamed into battle with it, leaping over its body and taking hold of the long, fleshy feelers as it did. Unit One yanked the arms back over the creature's body and began dragging it out of the earth, yanking it upwards. Strangely thin arms along the creature's side wriggled, scrabbling for purchase as it was pulled onto the surface, out of its element. It rolled until it could dig into the soil and drag itself back to the opening, but found no purchase, dragged every moment further and further away from the rent in the earth.

The angel puffed, its body growing red with heat, and then contracted, the rocky shell of its body turning rock hard and a deep, rich obsidian. The fleshy arms pulled Unit One forward, and then it exploded. Rei raised her AT-Field just in time to deflect flaming shards of white hot rock that blew into gouts of flame when they struck her, setting fire to the fields below. A chunk of it hit the pyramid and gouged a furrow in it surface, then rolled to a stop, cooling in the artificial lake. Unit One was wreathed in flame, and Shinji screamed, screamed as if he was dying, and the Evangelion with him, the pulsing cries pulling at her soul itself.

He was not dying, he was living.

Unit One picked up the now exposed angel, its rocky shell gone, though it was still many times larger than the Eva itself. Rei gasped as she saw the fire and smoke and whirling dust begin to spin over Shinji's head, spin into a glowing halo of fire, and saw the light in Unit One's eyes and gaping mouth as it gaze up in the creature. She heard a sound not unlike the chiming of a bell, and the angel was unmade, its body unbecoming itself into a vast explosion that swallowed them both, swirling up into, absurdly, the shape of a cross, as if to mark its grave.

From within the flame Unit One stamped forward, wreathed in fire, its snarling growl shaking the foundations of the Earth. As it neared her the flame around it winked out of existence, as if he'd simply willed it away. It knelt beneath Unit Zero and lifted her up as a groom carries his bride, and from there strode down the ramp into headquarters complex.

From there, her memory became sporadic as she began to drift in and out of consciousness. She remembered him pulling her out of the plug himself, remembered teasing the promise from her to care for Asuka. She remembered when the Section 2 men came and he gave himself up voluntarily, offering up his wrists for the handcuffs, joking and talking with them as if they weren't arresting him, the way his face became grave and serious as they wished Asuka well and told him of their wives and children. The blackness took her, and she woke up in the hospital.

* * *

><p>"When I awoke, I came here."<p>

Asuka looked up at the ceiling blankly. Her eye rolled to catch the light coming from the doorway. It took closeness for the blurred shape to resolve itself into the sub commander, Fuyutsuki. The old man rested a hand on Rei's shoulder, and then leaned over the bed.

"How do you feel?" he whispered.

"Like I look," she said flatly.

He nodded.

"Why is Shinji in lockup?"

"The Commander is afraid he's been contaminated. Unit One is sealed in Bakelite until Akagi can finish going over it."

"That's bullshit," Asuka hissed. Rei offered her another drink and she turned away.

"It is what it is," Fuyutsuki said as he turned.

"Isn't there anything you can do to help him?"

The old man looked to both of them and said nothing.

He left, and for a time, they sat in silence.

"Will they fix Unit Two?"

"Yes," said Rei, "although it will take time. I must go. Misato will be here soon."

Asuka closed her eyes. Eye. "I just want to sleep."

* * *

><p>Gendo was glad he'd elected to have gas nozzles installed in the cells when the detention center was constructed. It made dramatic entrances so much more glorious. He waited in the half-light of the laboratory of Central Dogma for the boy to come around, hunched over himself in the metal chair to which he was bound in unconsciousness. It amused him to see the boy's face when he came around, and their eyes met.<p>

"Hello, Shinji," said Gendo.

The boy was silent, his jaw set. Gendo wanted to burst out laughing at his amateur theatrics, but he'd had far more practice and new the value of the subtle nuance of keeping his stone faced exterior intact.

"I thought we should have a little chat. We haven't had the time to talk since you came to Tokyo-3, both of us have been so busy."

Shinji continued to stare at him, so he went on. "I wanted to make a few things clear to you, _redefine our relationship_, as it were. Right now, that little redheaded brat is lying in a hospital bed over our heads. She won't be pretty, but she's currently making a miraculous recovery. It's very tenuous, you see. It could turn at any moment. She could go into a sudden cardiac arrest. Berlin would protest, I'm sure, and I might get an angry letter from her father, but that would be it. I'll cremate her and put her in a pauper's grave with nothing but a date. I won't even tell you where it is."

Shinji's eyes hardened, but he said nothing. Gendo smirked in amusement. The boy had certainly been practicing his stoic stare, handn't he?

"As for the Major," said Gendo, "after this grotesque debacle, I'll have no choice but to fire her and strip her of her clearance. You would no longer be allowed to live with her, I'm afraid. As a valuable asset, I would have to hold you in detention indefinitely."

Still no reaction. He continued. "Of course, you're thinking, 'my beloved Rei will still be true to me', but alas… Rei?"

As he planned, Rei stepped forward. She didn't have to be nude, but he was sure it increased the effect. He did react when he saw her, and if Gendo was reading him right, he was panicking. Rei walked to his side, staring at the cold floor. The three of them remained there in the darkness, for some time, until Gendo drew his sidearm from his jacket. He handed it to her and she took it, letting it hang limply at her side. Good girl.

"Rei, put the muzzle of that firearm under your chin."

He watched Shinji's horrified reaction in amusement as she did exactly that, turning her head up as she did, so he could see the tremble in her lips, the tears welling up at the corners of her eyes. He didn't even have to tell her to do that; it seemed that whatever part of her was capable actually cared about him, which, he would admit, surprised him to a degree.

"Remove the safety and put your finger on the trigger."

Slowly, Rei complied, the click of the safety ringing in the dark room like a bell. She stood there, finger on the trigger, for a full minute before Gendo reached into his pocket and pushed the button on the remote, bathing them in light. Behind them stood the storage tank with the floating, soulless Rei bodies, their beatific grins innocent of what transpired outside. Shinji's draw dropped as he gazed on the sight of it.

"Rei is mine, and will always be mine," Gendo said simply. "If the current version proves too intractable, I will simply give the order, and she will blow her brains out. If _you_ become too intractable, I will give the order, and she will blow her brains out, and then she will wake up, walk over here, and do it again, and again, and again, until her only memory is the bullet tearing through her skull because you _just wouldn't do what you were told_. Are we clear?"

"So you can take everything away from me," Shinji said flatly.

"Of course I can. Do you think your inane plans would elude _me?_ Your little girlfriend is walking around with my technology _on her head_ and you thought you could keep secrets? You're deluded."

"There's one thing you can't take," said Shinji. "The _riddle of steel._"

Gendo frowned. "I see you need a demonstration. Rei, pull the-"

He felt a gun barrel against the back of his head and froze.

"Not one more word," Misato Katusragi growled. "Keep your hands where I can see them."

He clenched his jaw. She reached around beside him, fished out the handcuff key from his pocket, and held it out.

"Rei?"

The girl looked at her.

"You take orders from the Commander, right?"

No reaction.

"Well, he can't talk right now, and when he doesn't give orders, you take them from me, right?"

"Yes," Rei said softly.

"Good girl. Put the gun down on the floor."

Slowly, she knelt and put the gun down, then stood up.

"Take this key, and uncuff Shinji."

"Rei-"

Katsuragi jabbed the gun into the back of his head for emphasis. "I said shut the fuck up."

Shaking, Rei uncuffed Shinji and he immediately jumped up, tore his shirt off, and swaddled Rei in it, pulling her into an embrace. He looked over her shoulder at Gendo, and slow smile spread across his face. He didn't remember his son having fangs.

"I think it's time," he said, "for us to redefine our relationship."

* * *

><p>Asuka woke up to a lancing pain in her face and sat up with a yelp, pulling at the bandages on her face with her clawed left hand. A white-clad nurse darted into the room and put hand son her, but she shoved the idiot aside and slid to her feet, pulling away her hospital gown as she did. She grit her teeth and started pulling at the bandages on her hand, not caring that she was standing there exposed. When she finally tore the free, she saw her hand- the skin was warped and melted, freshly pink, wrapped around the bones of her fingers like melted candle wax, but she could move them, although shakily and with great effort. She continued to pull at the bandage on her face.<p>

"Please," the nurse pleaded, "get back into bed, you shouldn't be standing up! You shouldn't be _sitting_ up!"

"Get me a mirror!"

"But-"

"Get me a _mirror_!"

Nervously, the nurse reached into her pocket and pulled out a small makeup compact, then slid backwards, pressing herself against the wall. Asuka ignored her as she opened the mirror. All around her eye socket was the same damaged flesh as her hand, pink and wrinkled, pulled tight against the outline of her skull, down the side of her head to her jaw. By some miracle, her hair had been preserved. She pulled her sunken eyelid open and gazed on the black void inside and smiled, the expression pulled into a sneer by the scars.

The pain came again and she nearly dropped the compact, instead sinking onto the bed. She clutched at the empty socket and her stomach lurched as she felt something _moving _in it, wriggling around painfully. When she looked in the mirror again, blood well out of her eye like tears, and where blackness had been there was a solid green orb with only a tiny, constricted pupil. She closed her good eye and looked at herself through the new one, and with clawed forefinger of he left hand pulled back her sneering lip. Her left incisor had grown out into a sharp fang, protruding from her other teeth, matched on the bottom by sharpened teeth all along the left side of her jaw.

"I think I like it," she said, and tossed the compact to the nurse. "Where's my plug suit?"

Shirtless, Shinji stood in the doorway, holding the suit in his arms. He looked her up and down and said, "I think I prefer you without it."

She snatched it from him. "Go play with your doll. Don't stare at my ass while I'm putting this on, either."

He did anyway, and didn't have to work for it. She turned her back and pulled the suit on over herself, the cool material pleasant on her skin. Working her damaged hand into the glove was difficult, and the suit fell away from her body as she fiddled with it, until Shinji came up behind her and helped her with it, pausing to run his hand over the scar on her back. She suppressed a shiver as he ran his hands up her back to pull her hair out of the suit and close it at her neck. With a hiss it closed around her, and she felt whole again.

She looked at the nurse. "What are you crying about? You're not the one with the fucked up face. Get out."

With a cry of alarm, the nurse crawled onto her feet and darted past them into the hall, sobbing. Asuka snickered at her, until Shinji sidled up to her, draping his arms around her waist.

"Don't bother trying to make me feel pretty," she snapped. "Just go away."

"You're not pretty," he said honestly, "but you are beautiful."

She pushed him away. She didn't remember being so strong. "Don't bullshit me."

"I'm not. The world can see what you are inside, now. I still hide it."

Her eyes narrowed, both of them, as she stared at him. "Where is Rei, anyway?"

"Resting," he shrugged. "My father decided it would be a good idea to psychologically torture her to break my will."

"Oh," said Asuka.

"It wasn't a good idea."

* * *

><p>It surprised Gendo how easy it was for him to speak with one of his legs broken to ensure his cooperation, crudely splinted with a broken crutch. Sitting down with the leg hidden under his desk helped matters, of course. Since he'd always sat in a desk during the holographic conferences, this would raise no suspicion. He kept his speaking to a minimum, however.<p>

From the opposite end of the chamber, Keel boomed at him, "this has been a disaster. Your installation is severely damaged, all three Evangelions are out of commission for at least a month, and the budget-"

"Humanity is saved," Gendo cut him off, "and the Scenario continues apace. The plan to attempt to capture the angel was a mistake, a product of the Operations Director. I have censured her appropriately."

"You stand on a knife's edge, Ikari," Keel snapped from within his black monolith. "If you fail us again, you will be dealt with. As it is, we have no choice in the matter. The S2 core experiment with Unit Four will be cancelled, and it and Unit Three will be transferred to Tokyo-3 with all speed. I expect Marduk reports on the new pilots soon."

With that, the holographic conference ended, leaving Gendo and Fuyutsuki standing alone in an empty white void.

"What a coincidence, the Institute has already identified the Fourth and Fifth, respectively. Suzahara and… Horaki, I think it is."

"Yes," Gendo deadpanned, "what a coincidence. Speaking of coincidence, how did Katsuragi know?"

Fuyutsuki smirked at him. "I can't say. You should get that looked at," the old man glanced at his leg.

"It's quite painful," Gendo almost snapped. He was beginning to wonder if he was maintaining his composure only out of habit.

"Yes," said Fuyutsuki as he turned to leave. "Well, good luck. I hope you don't mind if I turn out the lights, we'll need to save electricity, with the budget and all."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Misato was still trembling as she walked into the Commander's office. She looked down at her shaking hands and clenched her fists in vain hope of making them stop. She'd put a gun to the head of one of the most powerful and dangerous men in the world, humiliated him, and watched while his own son beat him and broke his leg with his bare hands. She'd thrown her lot in with a fourteen year old boy, and on the way to do it she's seen things that shook and confused her. She wanted to scream as she approached the small group of people in the office- Fuyutsuki and Ritsuko standing by the desk, Shinji himself lying upon it as though it were a bed, with Rei seated on it beside him, and Asuka, dressed in a plugsuit for no reason, spinning around in the Commander's chair and snickering to herself.

She put her hands in her pockets as she approached, to keep herself from balling up her fists or tugging at her jacket, and waited. An eerie silence fell on the room, broken only by the sound of the chair squeaking.

"I can't believe I went along with this," Ritsuko muttered.

"What do we do now?" said Misato.

"We should probably get some chairs in here," said Shinji.

Asuka guffawed, Fuyutsuki remained stock still, his face a mask, and Ritsuko visibly flushed, biting at her lip. "Shinji," she said patiently, "this isn't a game. If the Committee finds out what we've done, we're all dead."

He sat up and rested his arms on his knees, and fixed his gaze on her. "You're right. I shouldn't have acted. I should have let him torture Rei. I should have let him kill Asuka. We should go back to the Professor here sitting in his office filling out paperwork until the world ends. You can go back to my father periodically showing up at your apartment, taking his frustrations out on you, and leaving you to cry yourself to sleep. Misato can go see if she can drink herself to death before Instrumentality begins."

"Instrumentwhatity?" said Misato.

Ritsuko ignored her. "How did you know I was sleeping with your father?"

"He has you under twenty-four seven surveillance, that's how. Does that surprise you?"

"No," she snapped, "Not really."

"Hey!" Misato snapped, "I feel like I'm out of the loop here. What the hell is Instrumentality. How the hell do you know about that surveillance stuff?"

Ritsuko sighed. "Misato, I-"

"Wait," said Rei, her soft voice cutting through their harsh words. "Before we begin, we must induct them into the Lodge."

"The what?" said Misato.

"In the Lodge, there are no secrets," said Rei, "and no judgments. What has gone before, is no more. We are a brotherhood of warriors."

"Uh," said Misato. "What?"

"Arguing about what we've already done won't help us now," Shinji clarified. "It's time to open up to each other fully. No lies. No secrets."

"Fine," said Misato, "I'll go for that, as long as you go first. You didn't do all of this by lifting weights, damn it."

He smirked at her. "No. From the moment I first arrived, I have been talking to my mother. We grew closer every time I synched with the Evangelion. Through the Eva's connection to the Magi, we were able to access the system and I began to learn. Every time I sat in the simulators or in a synch test, I learned more and more. Every time I fight, I leave a little of myself in the Eva, and bring a little of her back out with me."

"I don't understand," Misato said softly. "What do you mean, she's in the Eva-"

"He means," Asuka growled, "that the people who built these things knew what they were. They knew they needed a human soul to work. So they fed our mothers to them and psychologically abused us so we wouldn't be able to connect with anyone but Evas."

"Oh my God," Misato breathed, "I had no idea." She snapped to Ritsuko. "How could you never tell me this?"

"It was classified," she muttered, staring at the floor.

"There was no reason for you to know," said Asuka. "I have access now, too. You're only the Operations Director because Gendo need a convenient subordinate to get rid of. All of this is planned out in advance."

"What? How?"

"The dead sea scrolls," said Fuyutsuki. "There exists a secret set of scrolls, which lists the arrival and disposition of each angel in detail. The Human Insturmentality Committee and Seele, the group responsible for securing our political influence and funding, believe that when the sequence is complete, they will initiate Third Impact themselves, forcing humanity to join together into a single gestalt mind. Under their control, naturally."

"Uh, what?"

Shinji sighed. "They plan to disrupt everyone's AT-Field simultaneously, killing everyone on Earth."

"Is that even possible?"

"Absolutely," Ritsuko said quietly. "The Evas have already done it on a small scale, and the poisonous sea in Antarctica is left over from the same effect during Second Impact."

"We can't let that happen! How do we stop them?"

"There is but one path," said Shinji. "We kill them all."

Misato winced as her voice broke. "How can you say that?" she said softly. "You're just a kid."

He slid his arm around Rei. "You heard what he threatened to do to Rei. Those were the actions of a man who _opposes_ Seele and has been trying to undermine them from within. They're _worse_. Think of the world we could have lived in, the life we would all lead if there had been no Second Impact, no Angels, no Eva. They stole that from us. There, now I've made my confession. It's your turn, Akagi."

Ritsuko paled, "I… I…" her gaze slid to Rei. "I hate you. I hate that he loves you and not me, even when he's inside me. I used to image what would happen if I killed you and destroyed the cloning tank."

Rei met her gaze levelly, until she turned away. "He does not love me." She ran her fingers down her cheek. "He loves _her_, and only her. I am a thing. Someone grew me in a lab. He gave me her face. Made me someone I am not."

Shinji pulled her into himself and ran his fingers through her hair. "I am not Yui," she whispered, "I am not Lilith. I am I. I am Rei."

"How cute," Asuka snorted.

Rei slowly turned and stuck her tongue out at her. Asuka snickered. "This is great. We should roast marshmallows. Are you going to confess your crush on the barbarian, Misato? I'll make my confession first, how about that? I used to hate you all. I absolutely loathed everyone. I hate you because you've been nailed by Kaji and you have a bigger rack than I do and you're older and you're a real woman. I hate Rei because Shinji paws all over her, and because she makes me have really weird thoughts about her when she's naked. I hate Akagi because I know she's smarter than I am. I hate Shinji because he can do things I can't do. I hate Kaji because he treats me like a child. I hate my idiot school friends because they're so dull, and I hate Shinji's little followers because they're idiots and they're like goofy puppies. You know who I hate? You know who? _Me_. I hate myself, because I've been so _stupid_."

There was a tear welling up on her good eye. "I'm kind of indifferent to Fuyutsuki, though."

Fuyutsuki shrugged.

Asuka went on. "I understand how stupid I am, now. Now I know who I should really hate. It's not on my shoulders anymore. I'm free."

"I don't get it," Misato whispered. "Who do you hate now?"

She smirked, exposing the sharp little teeth on the left side of her face, barely hidden under the hair she'd brushed over her eye. "My mother. I hate her most of all. She _left_ me. She knew what the Eva was going to do to her. Unit One had already eaten Shinji's mother. She knew, they all knew, and she did it anyway. She went along with it. I wouldn't have. I would have kicked and screamed and clawed my way out. They would have had to tie me down and shove me in there. But I still love her. Now I have her and she's mine forever, and no one can ever take her from me. The hate doesn't bother me anymore. It's just there, like a hollow in my head."

Shinji slid off the desk and moved to her side.

"Now, all I want is revenge. I want them to suffer for what they've done. Suffer like I suffer. I have her back, but I can't touch her. She can't hold me. I know she's there but I can't _feel_ her."

Shinji brushed his fingers up her face, on the scarred side, and she shuddered. "I don't want to say anything else."

"You don't have to," he whispered.

"My turn," said Fuyutsuki. "My story is simple. I learned of all of this and did nothing because I was selfish. Gendo's plan was to reunite with his wife, and my only hope was that I would see her in the end. I wanted to see her happy one more time. I love her. That's it."

"So why turn against him?" said Misato.

"Because for all that we've done, she wouldn't want anything to do with us."

Shinji looked at her. "Your turn."

Misato looked at him for a long time, in silence. "I hate the angels," she whispered, "so much that I would do anything to hurt them and destroy them, even if it meant losing the three of you. I hate them so much it hurts."

"The angels are just things," said Shinji. "Take off your shoes."

She blinked. "What?"

"Take off your shoes."

Shrugging, she complied. When she stepped out of her heels, she was nearly of a height with him. Without warning, he grabbed her and pulled her into an embrace, crushing her arms to her sides. She squirmed, but didn't resist. "The angels are just things. They are what they are. They only exist because of Seele. If they'd just left the damned thing alone, your father would still be alive and none of this would have happened. It's them you should hate."

She bit her lip and turned her head from him, but a sob got out anyway. It seemed like forever until she was able to compose herself and he released her. She took a step back, still in her bare feet, and wobbled. He was right. They did need chairs in here.

"What do we do now?"

"Nothing," said Shinji. "We maintain the illusion that Gendo is still in control. Only a limited number of people have any idea what happened. As far as everyone else knows, he was injured during the battle and is sedated in the infirmary."

"I…" Ritsuko trailed off. "I told Maya. She'll stay quiet."

"You did?" Misato said. "Why?"

"Was it before, or after you made her wear the collar and the cat ears?" Shinji smirked.

"How did you know that?" Ritsuko stammered. "I didn't make her, she likes it!"

"Surveillance," Shinji grinned.

"I want that shit out of my apartment," Ritsuko fumed.

"Maintaining the status quo won't last forever," Fuyutsuki interjected. "We will be compromised eventually. We need a solid plan."

Shinji hopped up and sat on the desk again. "How long until the new Units arrive?"

"Three is being transported now. Four requires some retrofitting, but will be enroute within the week," said Fuyutsuki.

"Good, when they arrive, we search them for bugs and sabotage. I've already selected the new pilots."

"Wait," said Mistaro, "_you _selected the new pilots? I thought the Marduk Institute was-"

"A front," Ritsuko cut her off. "I write the reports. We know in advance who all the pilots are."

"How?"

"The 2-A class, essentially. They… we… I had nothing to do with this, you understand. It was already done before I began working here."

"What?" said Misato. "What is it?"

"Their mothers," said Shinji. "Dead, all of them. Nerv ripped their minds out and put them into cores. There's almost two dozen of them in Terminal Dogma, waiting to be inserted into Evas. That's what 'core data' is."

Misato almost fell over until Fuyutsuki rushed to her side and steadied her. "No. That's not possible."

"It is," said Shinji. "It's time to change our approach. Since our pilot corps is so unstable," he looked around to his fellow pilots, smirking, "and the Evas are damaged so often, we need to be prepared to field new pilots. This farce of a middle school class is over. _Gendo_ is going to have this organization approach the parents and bring the potential pilots into a training program."

"What kind of training program?" said Misato.

"You'll help us with it. I will train them physically. Asuka will train them in Eva combat. Rei will train them to improve their synchronization. Together, we will teach them the riddle of steel."

"Why?" said Ritsuko. "Rei's score is lowest."

"She has the hardest time of it. Her Eva hates her and wants her to die."

"Oh," said Ritsuko.

"What about the government?" said Misato. "If they catch wind of this, they'll come down on us like a ton of bricks."

"If Seele decides that we are likely to betray them," said Fuyutsuki, "or simply when we have outlived out usefulness, they will feed the government information that we are planning to take over the country, or initiate Third Impact ourselves, or something of that nature. I would."

"So," Misato repeated ,"what do we do about it?"

"We have a spy for the government in our organization," said Shinji. "We simply feed them what we want them to hear."

"That won't work forever."

"True," said Shinji, "but if we can buy ourselves enough time, when Seele tells them we're planning to take over the country, it will already be too late."

"What do you mean?"

"I _am_ planning to take over the country."

Fuyutsuki nodded. "I've begun the work on Section 2. Over half of the organization is loyal to me already. Gendo never inspired much in the way of love from his security detail. Once I've identified the holdouts, I'll transfer them out, and use the loyalists to identify new members to bring into the fold. When the time comes, we can begin bringing them into the Lodge."

"That sounds dangerous," said Misato.

"Necessary," said Shinji. "I can't run this organization if the most heavily armed and combat ready part of it can turn on me at a moment's notice." He turned to Ritsuko. "I have a project for you, as well."

"What is it?"

"Unit One and Unit Zero were built here. I want you to determine if we could begin constructing new Evas here and hide it from the Committee. The repairs to the Evas are so extensive..."

"I don't think I can," she mused, "but I'll see what I can do. Unofficially, of course."

* * *

><p>For Gendo, routine was a comfort, unless that routine was imposed from outside. As it was, his current routine consisted of waking each morning, groggy from sedation, to stare at white tiles that someone had marked with the words "UNFAMILIAR CEILING" in magic marker. Each morning, Shinji would walk into his room holding a gym bag under his arm, lay the bag on the ground, and from it draw a sheathed sword. He would then draw it from the scabbard in a fluid, practiced motion and sit beside Gendo's bed for an hour or so, carefully honing it and polishing the blade.<p>

"I might kill you today," he would say after a time, never taking his eyes from the blade. "I might kill you tomorrow," he went on, "but I know you'll never see or speak to my mother again."

Gendo, for his part, remained silent. Better to let the boy think he'd won, that could actually use humiliation as a torture tactic.

"I broke into your liquor cabinet last night," he told the sword, turning the blade in his hand to catch the light glinting from it in his eye. "Afterwards, Rei and I christened your desk. I hope you don't object. I should thank you. The height is perfect. She's a little shorter than I am, so we need to get her feet off the floor a bit."

His jaw tightened, and he winced. The bruise there was still fresh. He was bound to the bed frame, naked under the sheets, and Shinji had carefully seen to searching him to ensure he concealed no devices or means by which he would escape. He almost respected the boy now. When he did finally escape this confinement, he would have to be sure to kill him, as attempting to control him would prove fruitless. He was too dedicated. In a way, it reminded him of himself as a younger man, although he had never held much of a fixation for bladed weapons.

"Have you thought about Ritsuko, at all? She never thinks about you, I'm sure. She gets more satisfaction out of having her assistant meow and paw at her like a little kitty cat. I know you don't love her, of course. You aren't capable of love for anyone but yourself."

"That isn't true. I loved your mother."

"No, you love yourself, and she pleased you."

"That's not true."

"If it isn't, then why didn't you kill the people responsible for what happened to her?"

"You know why."

"All your plans and schemes mean nothing, _Father._ Do you think you people even remotely understand what you've done?"

He leaned the sword, point down, against the wall, and stood over the bed. He pressed his eyes shut and took in a deep breath and forced it out again quickly, almost snorting, then did it again, and again. When he opened his eyes they were solid green, save for tiny, constricted pupils, and when he opened his mouth, his teeth were razor sharp, and when he grinned it was as a shark's grin.

"You don't know anything," he snarled, his voice thickened and roughened by his fangs. "You don't know what the Evas are, what the angels is, any of it. You're children that found your father's gun and play with it without understanding what it's capable of."

He leaned closer, and for an instant, Gendo feared he would begin chewing on him, biting and tearing at him with those teeth. He felt the emotion displaying itself on his face and hated himself for letting his mask slip.

He defaulted to his natural reaction, one he'd long learned to control, but lying here with his wrists strapped to a hospital bed and a cast on his leg, he no longer saw any benefit in holding back. He snapped his head forehead and crushed his forehead into Shinji's nose. The boy recoiled with a yelp, clutching his face. He stared at Gendo for a moment, terrible green eyes wide, blood spurting between his fingers. He put his hand down and grinned, blood flowing over his fangs and stared, just stared at him for what seemed like forever, and then pressed his eyes shut, took a deep breath, and when he opened them they were normal. He wiped away the blood with the sleeve of his shirt and set his nose with a crunch of cartilage, barely wincing as he did.

"I thought there was still some fight in you."

"You have no idea."

"We'll see," said Shinji as he collected his sword. "I'll see you tomorrow. I might kill you, you know."

"I know."

* * *

><p>They gave Asuka a stage. She insisted. She ascended her small platform, and as she was already taller than her recruits, it made her tower over them. She'd made a few modifications to her plugsuit. She insisted on a heavier armored panel over her torso as well as her legs, suggesting the appearance of boots. She no longer wore her nerv clips when she didn't need them, as she disdained the childish look of having her hair drawn back as if by barrettes. Instead, she kept it tied at the base of her skull, loosely, except for a neatly brushed section she allowed to fall over the left side of her face, covering her scars and the eye patch she wore.<p>

She looked out over the twenty-six faces in front of her and smiled warmly. The boys, primarily Aida and Suzahara, looked thrilled to be there. The girls, not so much. Several of the huddled around Hikari, desperately whispering to her for answers.

Asuka threw back her cape. It was Rei's idea, but she liked it anyway. "All of you, shut up."

A silence fell over the room.

"I'm not going to sugar coat this, or feed you a line of bullshit about glory. I am here to save your lives. I will not succeed. Some of you will die. Death is inevitable. Hate me if you want to, but learn from me. If you fail, this awaits you."

She reached up and brushed the hair away from her face, let them have a good look, and let it fall again. "Understand this. I hate you. I have nothing but contempt for you. You have one chance to prove yourselves to me. It is time for children to grow up, and put away childish things. The world you live in is a lie. Most of the people in the world live in horrible hunger and poverty, and it's because of the expense of building this city and fielding the Evangelions. Today is the last day you live as pampered, spoiled children."

She let that sink in for a moment, watching the confusion build in their eyes. "Your lives are a lie, and I am the truth. Today, you join a new family. We are the children of death, the brothers and sisters of destruction. We will crush the angels utterly, make them suffer torments your fragile minds would never believe. When the angels are gone, we will remake the world into a new, better world, a world that was stolen from us by Second Impact. We will be cruel to our enemies, for they have earned our cruelty. Through discipline, you will achieve a glorious communion of warriors. I offer you the key to something so profound and beautiful words cannot describe it."

"To take it, you need only pass my test. There is only one question you need answer. _What is the Riddle of Steel?_"

* * *

><p>Kaji sat apprehensively at the table, leaning against the wall. He sat so that he appeared as casual as he could while resting his hand on the gun in his pocket, watching the people walk by. Ever since he'd arrived here, it amazed him how easily these people adapted to having been exposed to their utter destruction over and over only to wake up the next day and just go about their lives, as if attacks by mind bending horrors beyond the stars were simply bad storms or a freak weather pattern.<p>

He was almost surprised when Misato dropped into the seat beside him, and he caught himself admiring the bounce as she came to rest. His admiration faded when she kicked her foot out of her shoe and jammed her toes into his crotch. He yelped in surprise, and by the time he realized what'd happened, she slipped a gun out of her purse and held it resting on the table, hidden by the handbag so passersby couldn't see it.

"Hello, mister super spy," she said sarcastically, training the gun on his head. "Let's talk."

"What about?"

She flexed her toes, making him jump again. "You're working for the government, and Nerv, and Seele. You're a triple agent."

He looked down at the gun. "How did you figure this out?"

She smirked. "I can't say. As of now, you're a quadruple agent. You work for us."

"Us?" he quirked an eyebrow. "Who is us, exactly?"

"Doesn't matter," she shrugged, and his eyes flicked to the gun. "You feed your contacts the information we want you feed them, when we want them to have it. Do you understand?"

"Let's say I do. What do you want me to do?"

"First," she reached into her handbag, "You're going to help us with this."

She flopped a tabloid newspaper onto the table, and he spread the curled pages with his hands. The front page was dominated by a crisp color picture of Shinji in his plugsuit in front of the damaged Evangelion Unit One, in what was, to him, an obvious pose. The headline screamed, "Identity of heroic giant robot pilot revealed!"

"I'm not following you."

"We want to make sure the government doesn't suspect anything, first off," said Misato. "Second, I want to know the names of every Seele agent and every politican under their influence in the government, and you're going to get them for me."

"You do realize that I could be killed for helping you."

"Yes, but if we fail, we're all dead anyway."

He sighed and sat back in the chair as she stood up, folding her arm to her side to keep the gun trained on him until she was far enough away that she looked around to be sure she wasn't watched, and then slipped it back into her bag. He watched her go for a while, then ordered a drink. He downed it all at once, and then curled up the newspaper to slip it into his pocket. A small scrap of torn paper fell out, and he picked it up.

_If you hurt her, I'll know. -S_


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

He asked for a black plugsuit, and they gave it to him. Toji flexed his fingers, listening to the material creak, and took a deep breath before walking out into the area they called the cage. It was cold and there were dozens of people around, and the plugsuit fit him like a second skin, which meant his skin was exposed, which meant he was naked, which was quite uncomfortable. He resisted the urge to hitch himself up and press his legs together as he walked. The vast space made him feel small- every sound echoed. Even though this was just a test, his stomach lurched and he felt a sort of buzzing along his spine. Yet, Shinji had commanded that he pilot Unit Four, and he would obey.

His Eva stood at the far end of the cage, hunched and bestial. He'd seen what Shinji could do before, but there was something otherworldly and alien about the Evas that the pictures couldn't capture, like it was watching him. It was lower and broader than the others. They told him it had been modified somehow and then converted back, explaining the deeper chest and thicker back, the way it hunched forward a bit. Oddly, they asked him what color he wanted the armor painted, and he went with black.

Hikari was sitting near Unit Three, clutching herself and shaking. Her plugsuit was a bright yellow, and her Eva was mostly the same, with black highlights that made him think of a hornet. She had the things in her hair, they called them nerve clips, but had let it down. He sat down next to her, trying not to stare to hard at her. It seemed like her suit was even tighter than his, especially around the chest, almost as if they were designed to be more form-fitting and revealing on the girls. He put his arm around her without looking.

"I'm scared," she whispered. "I don't think I can do this."

"You'll be fine."

"These things are monsters," she whispered. "You saw what happened to Asuka. Her _face._"

"What about my face?"

Asuka loomed over them, and any other time, Toji would have relished the chance to see her walk around in her plugsuit. She'd modified it, or had it modified, anyway, armoring up the chest while paradoxically thinning the material around her midriff and thighs, letting the skin show through orange-tinted transparent fabric. When she turned he could see the scarring on her back and around her side, where it pulled at the shape of the muscles on her belly, which seemed more pronounced than he'd expected.

He avoided looking her in the eye. Not because he was afraid, mind you, but because everyone did. She had her left eye covered with a black patch and draped her hair over the scars, but they perpetually twisted her face into a sort sneer, worsening when she grinned at them; the scarring turned white and pulled tight.

Asuka ran the fingers of her good hand down Hikari's cheek. "Don't worry, cupcake. We'll keep you pretty."

Hikari stifled a sob.

"Hey," said Toji, "back off."

"Or what?"

He stood up. "I'm not scared of you, devil. I don't care how torn up your face is."

They looked at each other in the eye, and her face went slack. Her single exposed eye bored into him, but he held his ground, even shifted forward on his feet a little. "You wanna go? I don't care if you're a girl or not, you mess with Hikari, you mess with me."

That sick grin spread across her face again. She slapped him on the shoulder. "Good boy." She glanced at Hikari. "Just let this meathead protect you."

She spun on her heels and left them, heading for Unit Two. Since the volcano, the armor was being reworked, more feral, more visceral. The shoulder pylons were sharper than the other Evas, and where Unit One sported a single horn, Unit Two now carried two, jutting from its head on either side, and the armor over the lower part of the mouth was left open, exposing the creature's teeth. Toji didn't like looking at it.

"Are you okay?"

Hikari nodded silently and stood up.

"I'm right here. This is just a test, right?"

She nodded, again in silence, and headed up the stairs to the entry plug.

* * *

><p>Hikari hated closed spaces. She hated the clingy plugsuit squeezing every part of her body that allegedly covered. She hated the clips on her scalp, pulling at her hair. The inside of the plug, they called it, was cold and reminded her of a coffin, and didn't look like the cockpit of a giant robot at all. When she was inside, she had to awkwardly work her way along the curved wall while they sealed her inside, then slip into the pilot's seat, which mostly looked like just a chair. At least it was padded. Once she was seated, there was a simple control yoke- two handles with triggers, and nothing else- that she had to pull down over her waist. It locked into place and she sat there, waiting, while they ran some sort of tests.<p>

After an indeterminate amount of time, a stinky, orange-colored liquid halfway between blood and motor oil began to flood in from vents around her, and her stomach clenched in reflex. It stank of fresh blood, a piece of meat lying out on a counter, and she shivered when it touched her feet and legs. It drew the heat out of her, stinging her skin, and she kicked at it involuntarily.

"It's cold," she said, but she didn't think anyone heard her.

The liquid continued to rise, almost to her chin, and it was even colder somehow when it touched her skin. She tilted her head back to avoid it until it lapped up over the point of her chin and her lips, and her eyes teared up as she forced herself not to breathe. She heard a chime, and Asuka's voice, muted in the liquid.

"Just breathe it in. You're going to do it anyway. Get it over with."

She fought it until her lungs burned, until it soaked into her hair and pressed into her ears, muffling the world. Finally, the burning was too much, and she let out a puff of air into the liquid, bubbling it, and it forced its way down her throat, cloying and cold, and she swallowed a great mouthful of it before it forced its way down her airway, and she wanted to cough and scream and vomit at the same time. She thrashed against the seat until she realized that the burning had faded, replaced by the icy cold, and she was still alive. She wasn't drowning after all.

There was a buzz and a thrum, the way that an electronic device hums when power flows into it, and she felt a tingling wherever the fluid touched her, even in her eyes and in her lugs, itching at her chest, making her cough even more. It started to swirl around her and gradually warmed, until she felt comfortable settling against the seat.

The interior of the plug changed- the metal walls vanished, replaced by swirling colors, patterns of dots and lights like a nightmarish night sky, the deep purple-black of the void replaced with reds and blues and greens and a hundred colors in between, some that she couldn't put a name to at all, and looking at them made her head hurt. She felt something slide along the back of her head, like a hand resting on the nape of her neck, and a sudden closeness around her chin and shoulders, like arms draped around her.

"This feels weird," she squeaked.

"It's supposed to," said Asuka. "That's how you know it's working. Just go with it."

She sucked in a gasp of the stinky fluid as the world around her shifted, and it felt like the heaviness in her lungs that accompanied a cold. The colors and static faded away and she could see the cage around her as though she were standing in the Eva's place, dozens of orange-suited technicians standing around staring at her. At the same instant, she felt something crawling along her skin, a sudden awareness of a much larger, heavier body around her. When her arm twitched, she felt immense muscles and grinding mechanical joints move with her.

"Be careful," Asuka snapped, and Hikari jumped. Her voice was _in Hikari's head, _somehow.

"What's going on?"

"You're synchronized," another voice spoke, older, deeper, a mild rasp from cigarette smoking. "Your synch ratio is stable at thirty-four percent. Congratulations, Hikari. You're better at this than Toji."

"Forget the technobabble," said Asuka.

Hikari turned her head, and realized that Unit Two had turned its head to her, quadruple eyes gleaming. As she watched, those horrible teeth under its mask moved up and down, glistening with thin coats of drool. The whole thing shifted visibly in the cage, straining against the bolts that held it in place. She watched its chest rise and fall and listened to the creaking and groaning through Unit Three's augmented ears and it felt like frozen acid flooded into her stomach.

It was looking at her.

It was _alive._

That meant that _hers_ was alive.

"Get me out!" she screamed, LCL bubbling against her lips. "I want to go home! I don't want to do this! I quit!"

"Oh grow up," Asuka snapped.

"I mean it," Hikari moaned, "Let me out of here."

"Hikari," Toji broke in, "It'll be okay, you-"

"No!" she shrieked, "All of you leave me alone! _Let me out!"_

As she thrashed in the seat, Unit Three moved with her. She felt a sudden pressure on her chest, and a pulling sensation at her arms, as though there were hooks buried in her flesh, and she bit her lip and pressed her eyes tightly shut, tears stinging them.

"Hikari?" Toji said weakly.

"I hate you!" she screamed, "I hate all of you! _Let me out!" _

"Asuka-" the older woman whispered.

"Be quiet," said Asuka, her voice soft, and reverent. "It's happening faster than I thought."

As she lay sobbing in the chair, the pressure increased, as did the feeling of pulling at her arms. The tightness in her chest grew into a rumble, and before she realized it, a cry forced itself from her throat, except it wasn't hers. It shuddered around her like an earthquake, pressing in on all sides. She felt an impact on the back of her head but it wasn't her, it was the Eva, thrashing against the cage. She felt pulling on her cheeks, but it wasn't her, it was the Evangelion's mouth armor tearing away as it roared in torment, the sound cutting through like the cry of some primordial predator from a lost age.

"I'm scared," she wept.

_Don't cry_, a tiny voice whispered.

Everything changed. The sensations of pressure doubled, grew, and she couldn't tell what she was feeling, and what the _thing_ was feeling. People were saying things, but she didn't hear them, something about third stage connections and berserks. She ignored it, sucked into the profound sensation of being cradled in the arms of something much larger and warmer than her, of a familiar cheek resting against hers, an intense scent, not an odor or a smell but a scent that made her feel warmer and softer, more content with each breath. She relaxed back into the seat and luxuriated in it, let it flow through her.

"Mommy," she whispered, her voice so tight it was almost a squeak.

_Yes._

"Well, meathead," Asuka said, "it seems like you have a lot to learn. The little girl beat you."

"Damn it," Toji muttered.

"Asuka, this is dangerous," the older woman said again, "We can't risk-"

"I said _shut up," _said Asuka. "I am the field commander. It's my decision."

"But…" the older woman trailed off, "oh _no. _The bridge is reporting a blue pattern approaching."

"Good," said Asuka, her voice dripping with hate and hunger, "Feeding time. Hikari, you're with me."

Hikari felt a surge of excitement flow through her, flood through the Eva, and she wasn't sure if it was her tiny hands that balled into fists, or the Eva's own, but she felt the tightness in her jaw, the need, like hunger but more so, the crushing desire to open her jaws and clamp down on something and tear at it with her teeth.

_No one will ever hurt you again,_ the voice whispered.

* * *

><p>There was a time when every movement was a precisely controlled action, when piloting Eva was like playing chess and dancing ballet at the same time. Now, the reverse was true. She wasn't controlling Unit Two, Asuka was restraining it, pulling it back, and with it herself, as she felt the urge to shove Unit Three out of the way and charge up the hills, wailing and gnashing her teeth, to leap onto the thing ambling towards them and tear it apart, feel its viscera burst under her fingers and the acid tang of its death in her teeth. Before she got in the plug she'd torn her eyepatch off, and there she felt it strongest, like the Eva was trying to push into her skull through her eye socket. She couldn't help but grin and run her tongue over her fangs.<p>

Unit Three was shaking, its armored body creaking and swaying as it moved ahead of her. She kept her Eva in check, reining it in so they would let the new pilot approach the angel first. She would have to talk to Hikari about removing the troublesome armor sections around some of the joints and the head, convince her of the virtue of speed. Ahead of them, the angel approached, scrabbling along the ground on four long, spindly legs, as if it had tried to be a spider and failed. Its main body was huge, bigger than an Eva, and hairy, a ball of fur from which dozens of blinking eyes stared out. As it moved, it left a trail of steaming slime that dribble from its many eyes, like tears.

"Be careful," Asuka growled, "that's acid. See it burning the ground?"

"Yes," Hikari whispered. "What do I do?"

"Kill it," said Asuka, "before it kills you."

"But-"

"Here it comes."

The angel let out a strange, wailing cry, like a knife blade running along a violin's strings, and then descended into the city, skirting between the buildings. It quickly trained its attentions on Hikari, skittering towards Unit Three at astonishing speed. It went into a flying leap and slammed into the Evangelion, bowling them both over. Hikari screamed as acid sprayed against Unit Three, hissing and bubbling on the armor.

"I'm scared! _Help me!"_

"Help yourself," said Asuka, though she drew nearer, just in case. "Reach through your fear and find _it_ on the other side. You know what I mean."

She waited, Unit Three struggled feebly, pinned down by the much larger angel, and then, it happened. Hikari roared, the sound rumbling over Asuka like a breaking wave, and her grin grew wider, so much that it made her scars hurt, and she didn't care. She leaned forward in anticipation and she could feel Unit Two hunch down, eager and hungry. If it weren't for the LCL, she would have been drooling.

Unit Three put both feet under the angel and kicked it back. It rolled, awkward, spindly legs crack under its own weight, and cried out in pain. Unit Three pulled itself into a crouch, resting on all fours, bellowed, and jumped on the angel, ignoring the burning acid. Asuka was genuinely curious as to who was in control when Unit Three bent down, sank its teeth into the angel's body, and twisted. She could hear its insectoid carapace cracking under the pressure in a series of thudding booms, and soon Unit Three plunged head-first into the creature's body and reared up, a chunk of pale, bloody flesh quivering in its mouth, eyes aglow with red hate.

"Concentrate," said Asuka. "Focus your will. Find the core."

Hikari said something through the comlink, but it was garbled and unintelligible. Unit Three plunged both hands into the creature's body, took hold of something, and quivered as it pulled. With three jerks, each followed by wet snapping sounds, the core came free. Hikari screamed, raised it over her head, and slammed it into the ground, over and over, and when that had no effect, curled around it and began chewing on it. Finally, it began to crack, coming apart in sharp chunks and a shower of red, red blood. When Unit Three reared up and cried out in fury, it was wearing a thick coat of shining angelic blood.

"Good," said Asuka, "Good. You have done well."

It took a few minutes for Hikari to calm down. Asuka had to carefully take hold of Unit Three and guide her to the launch tube and ride it down with her, cramped as it was. It took some paint off her new armor, which annoyed her greatly, but it was worth the loss. She helped the Evangelion amble back into the cage, where it locked down, and she retreated to her own.

When Asuka made it to Hikari's section of the cage, the girl was already stumbling down the stairs to the main walkway, clutching her stomach. Her eyes were wide and she was flushed and panting. She stared at Asuka from under her disheveled, LCL-slicked hair and her open mouth twisted into a feral grin. She ran her tongue over her lips.

"The taste," she hissed, "I like it."

"Hikari?" Toji called, running down the platform towards her. "Are you okay? Did it hurt y-"

Before he had the chance to finish, Hikari trotted over to him and rammed her face into his, prompting a shocked, muffled cry from him, his eyes going wide. He stood in bewilderment, touched his fingers to his lips, and she pulled back, grabbed his arm, and all but dragged him on his feet into the locker room.

* * *

><p>Rei found Shinji's rearrangement of the Commander's office relaxing.<p>

He kept the black-on-black scheme, which with the low ceiling created the impression of a cave. Everything else, such as it was, he'd discarded. The desk was gone, after he'd gone through it and examined all of the contents in detail, even an old bottlecap from a bottle of whisky, in exacting detail, searching for something he would not reveal to her. When the desk was gone, he brought long rolled carpets and furs spread them out on the floor. Where the desk had stood, he arranged a series of pillows into a sort of throne, where he would sit for hours, staring into space with his chin propped on his fist.

Rei was alone now. She lay against one of the pillows, her book propped on her chest. When Asuka stormed into the room, she sniffed at the smoke from the incense burners, coughed once, and strode in past the flaming braziers. Shinji had smashed out the window at the rear of the office, letting cool air from the Geofront filter inside, and when the heat of the sun was not being channeled into the vast structure, it became cold quickly. As Rei spent most of her time wearing nothing but one of Shinji's old shirts, the fires in the metal pots were necessary for warmth.

Asuka wandered past her and peered into the small apartment beside the office. Shinji had eschewed the sliding door that fit perfectly into the wall panel, literally throwing it out the window after he'd pried it off. She poked her head into the domicile, which was really just a bed chamber and a water closet with a shower, and emerged again.

"Where is he?"

Rei shrugged, without looking up from her book.

"What are you reading now?"

"It is called 'Galaxy in Flames'."

"Whatever," Asuka shook her head. "You haven't seen him? I need to talk to him."

"About what?" Rei said over her book.

"I've been in the Eva. You know what that means. I want him to hear the lamentations of his women," Asuka smirked. "Besides, we killed the latest angel. Hikari is progressing nicely."

"Good," said Rei, returning to her reading.

"So," said Asuka, "he's not around."

Rei put her book down. "No."

Asuka drummed her fingers on her thigh and ran her tongue over her upper lip, lingering on where the scar pulled it into a sneer. "Hey," she said.

"What?"

"How would you like to try a little… experiment?"

* * *

><p>Gendo opened one eye when Shinji walked into the room, and then promptly feigned sleep once more. As always, Shinji simply ignored it. Unlike the other days, however, he skipped the preliminary fumbling attempts and psychological torture, getting right to the point.<p>

"Where is it?"

"What?" Gendo rasped, eyes still shut.

"What Kaji brought you from Europe. It made the angel attack the fleet. It has something to do with your _Scenario_, and I want it."

Gendo smirked. "You do realize that, no matter what you do to me, I won't tell you."

Shinji was silent. Gendo opened his eyes.

"So," said Gendo, "we are at an impasse."

"You expect me to negotiate."

"Yes. In your position-"

"Fine," Shinji said quietly. "We'll negotiate."

Gendo smirked at the sound of steel rasping on leather as Shinji drew his ridiculous sword from his side and examined the blade. He turned it in his hand, examining the mirror surface of the flat, then touched the edge with his thumb. It thrummed when he flicked the edge.

"Here's the deal. You tell me where the object is, and you can keep your other nine fingers."

"What do you-"

It had been a long time since Gendo Ikari screamed that loud.

* * *

><p>Kaji was seriously beginning to doubt his own sanity. He was on an international flight at the behest of a fourteen year old boy. Now, they could dress it up any way they wanted to. Katsuragi was nominally in charge, but it was plainly obvious that she was taking orders from Shinji, who had set up shop in Ikari's office. He had Gendo squirreled away somewhere, probably maimed, and they'd tasked one Ryoji Kaji with helping to maintain the illusion that Gendo was still in charge while ferreting out the true identities of Seele members, presumably so that Shinji could personally stab them to death. With an actual sword. That he bought on the Internet. At the moment, sanity was not Kaji's strong point.<p>

The worst part was how naked he felt in situations like this. He had a gun and papers ready to retrieve at the bank in Berlin in a safe deposit box, but he had to leave his hideout gun and false identities behind before he boarded the plane. Something about post-Impact life left people with something of a lassies-faire attitude about human life, but airport security was never going to go away, and trying to run a suitcase through the x-ray machine brimming with passports and identification with the same picture and different names along with a pocket pistol and a box of ammunition was a decidedly poor idea.

He had less than an hour before he would arrive, and he was carrying his own death warrant on his person. The files he'd gathered all but proved he'd double-crossed Seele. He had a limited amount of information on Seele, essentially what he needed to work for them. He'd pieced together that the Human Instrumentality Committee was a front, and so he thought working with those names was his best bet to turning out others. He needed to see the chairman of the committee, Kiel. He had to give him something worthy of seeing the reclusive old bastard in person, and flying halfway across the world to do it, something that merited a little more than a phone call or a folder slipped into a dead drop.

Nerv knew why he was going of course, which left offering a convincing rationale for the trip to the Japanese government. He'd told his government contact that he had a lead on new Seele members, which was technically accurate in a vague sort of way. The truth was, he had no choice but to work against them, as well. He had the strong sense that Katsuragi, and therefore Shinji, saw them as a threat, ordering him to feed information to them about imaginary movements and activities of Gendo Ikari, who was, apparently, now out of the country. He told the Japanese government that Gendo was travelling south to Antarctica for reasons unknown, and he was leaving the country to ferret out why.

He felt the lurch in his stomach as the plane began its descent, paradoxically leaning backwards as planes do when they begin a landing. He crossed his hands over his stomach and tried to breath. The truth was, he hated flying, or at least hated flying when someone else was actually piloting the plane. It was comforting to have a sense that he was in control of the fate of the machine, and when someone he couldn't even see was tasked with that responsibility, less so.

When the plane touched down and rumbled up to the gate, he sat in his seat until most of the passengers had disembarked, then stood up and walked out with his hands thrust in his pockets, casual as can be. He had to give them credit. They were polite enough to wait for him to pass through customs and out of the baggage claim before they started following, and had the good graces not to put a black bag over his head and shove him into a waiting car until they were out of sight of the rest of the passengers.

At least his kidnappers were professionals.

* * *

><p>Misato awoke with a grunt to the sound of her phone skittering across the floor. She'd set it to vibrate mode, but naturally that hadn't helped and it woke her up anyway. Her head was pounding and she was in a peculiar position, namely curled up on what appeared to be a fur rug spread across a hard floor. She had to blink her eyes a few times and really think about where she was. It didn't help that she felt a peculiar pressure on her chest. When she cleared the cobwebs a little bit more, she became decidedly aware of the taste of beer in the roof of her mouth, and the face that someone was lying behind her and had their arms up under her shirt.<p>

Shinji looked over her shoulder, and rested his chin on her cheek. "Who is it?"

"Go back to sleep," Asuka muttered, rolling over beside her.

Blearily, she picked up the phone, hit the send button, and pressed it to her ear. "Kaji?"

"Misato," he used her given name, which was unusual, "Listen, there isn't much time. I did something I shouldn't have."

She sat up. Shinji shook himself free of her and sat up beside her, looping an arm around her waist.

"What?" she whispered, "What is it?"

"Listen, they… they knew why I was coming. Seele. They know everything. I don't want you to get hurt. Get out, get out now."

"_What?"_

"They're coming. They'll kill you all."

She held the phone in her hand for a moment, shaking. Shinji slid his hand up her forearm until his hand covered the phone and pressed the end button, and she listened to it beep as the call ended. Frantically, her head swimming from her hangover, she turned to him.

"What do we do?"

A feral grin spread across Shinji's face. "What do you think I'm going to say?"


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

Misato raced onto the bridge, tugging her jacket on as she went. A dozen alarms were already going off, and there was a buzz of activity around the room. Fuyutsuki was standing at his station as if the desk beside him wasn't empty, but was barking orders in his curiously loud-soft voice. When she entered the room, he looked relieved.

"Good of you to join us, Major."

"Sitrep!" Misato barked, running up behind the techs.

Ritsuko was leaning over Maya, busily typing at something. She glanced at Misato.

"Why are you walking like that?"

Misato dismissed her with a wave of her hand. "Not now, what's going on?"

"We've been cut off from the outside world," said Hyuga. "Before they started jamming our radar, I picked up about twenty VTOLs headed this way, and the seismic sensors are still up. I'm showing either something really huge or a huge amount of little somethings headed this way from every direction."

"Did you sound the evac alarm?"

"Yes, but I don't know how much good it will do."

Misato sighed, forcing herself to appear calm. "Status of the pilots?"

"Rei has disappeared," said Ritsuko. "Weren't you just with them?"

"Unit Two and Unit Three are powering up," said Maya. "Unit One is…"

"What?" said Maya.

"It's alive," Ritsuko said quietly. "We're not getting power readings from it anymore, but it's moving. I can't tell if Shinji is there or not."

At that moment, Shinji strode onto the bridge. He was naked to the waist, and had wrapped himself in a length of cloth, and belted his sword around his waist. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and stared at him as he walked to Misato, grabbed her arm, and spun her around. He pinned her to the terminals next to Maya and kissed her deeply, running his hands up under her jacket. His hands were cold, and he had on a pair of black leather gloves. When he pulled back, she stared at him, open mouthed.

"Uh," said Misato.

"Uh," said Ritsuko.

"Today is a good day to die," said Shinji, and then he turned, and left.

* * *

><p>Asuka strained against the control yoke, fighting not to hyperventilate, and not to drool. She could feel Unit Two groaning and creaking around her, the armor and servos straining against the flesh of the great beast, no longer aiding its movements but restraining instead. As synchronization took effect, she saw an unrestricted view of the cage, and turned Unit Two's head to look down at Hikari, who was quivering with fear, but also with anticipation, her cheeks flushed in the view on the screen.<p>

"Crom," Asuka snarled, "I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad."

Hikari was staring at her. She heard a hush descend on the bridge crew. Even Misato stopped barking orders. "Why we fought, or why we died," Asuka went on, "All that matters is that few stood against many. That's what's important! Valor pleases you, Crom, so grant me one request!"

Hikari was breathing hard now, her modest chest straining against her plugsuit. Tears streamed from her eyes and mingled with the LCL, and she was gritting her teeth. Asuka saw her mouth "Mommy", and close her eyes.

"_Grant me revenge!"_ Asuka roared.

Unit Two bellowed. A great cheer rippled through the bridge crew, forcing Misato to scream to be heard.

"Evangelion _launch!"_

* * *

><p>Rei waited patiently for Shinji to arrive. Unit One's cage was dark, lit only by the faint glow from the Eva's eyes, ever awake, ever scanning. When he walked into the vast open space, now empty of technicians or workers, it turned its head to meet him, watching him walk up to Rei, who stood dressed only in his uniform shirt before it, having eschewed clothing now that such ridiculous customs would no longer be necessary. Shinji unbelted his sword and tossed it onto the metal decking with a clang, and then embraced her. His gloved hands felt on moving across her skin.<p>

"Do you have it?"

He looked at his right hand. "Yes. I feel it."

He clenched his hand into a fist, and she felt a pulse of energy. She put both her hands around his, pressing her palms to the cool leather of his glove.

"I am afraid," she whispered.

"I understand," he said.

"You do not understand. Your father created me to use me for a purpose, and now you who I love would use me for the same."

"No," said Shinji, "not use you, join with you. You, Rei Ayanami, will be with me forever. The others, I used. Misato wanted a man to lie with her and a boy to comfort and a father to comfort her, and I gave her all three. Asuka wanted her existence to be validated through affection, so I gave it to her. Hikari wanted to escape the terror of her being and bring order to her existence. I let her do that. I used them by giving them what they want. You, you are my prize, my jewel. I love my father for creating you."

She pressed herself to him, feeling the warmth of his breath and the heat burning in his broad chest.

"I will not use you for his purpose," said Shinji. "Had he known what I have already done, he would have killed me weeks ago."

Rei lifted from his embrace. "What do you mean?"

"Yui Ikari is dead. I killed her. I found her in the Eva the day I came here, when they brought you out to shame me into piloting, the day they meant to offer you to this thing," he glanced at the Eva, "to this old god as a living sacrifice. I took your place and in sacrificing myself, gained its wisdom. I know what it wishes."

"What is that?"

"What you once wished. To end. The more I communed with my mother, the more I learned the truth. She abandoned me. She left me to that monster. I am beyond hatred. I devoured her essence to take her power within myself, and in freeing the beast found my greatest ally. We are brothers, Unit One and I. Today, I will grant his wish."

"How?"

"The forbidden union of Lilith," he stroked her hair, "and Adam," he raised his fist.

Beside them, the Eva let out a heavy breath, rotten and stinking like a carnivore. She could hear the armor creaking.

"You will join me in the entry plug, where we will become one. There is but one task we must accomplish first."

"What is that?"

"My enemies will not be joining us in the glorious union of all souls, my love. They will suffer death eternal at the hands of a giant of legend. Join me."

"Yes, beloved," said Rei, pressing herself to his side as they ascended the platform to make ingress into the entry plug.

* * *

><p>Maya Ibuki hauled off and vomited on the floor, and Misato nearly joined her, but instead held her arms and quivered in raw terror. Asuka had gone insane. She didn't bother waiting for the buildings to retract, she'd already ripped a skyscraper from the armored roof of the Geofront and hurled it at the oncoming VTOLs. They had only a limited view of what went on outside, but what they saw was terrifying. The JSSDF was coming for them, curled in great columns of men and armor like serpents, winding into the city from every direction, clouds of VTOLs and jet fighters circling over the city like carrion birds seeking after rotted flesh.<p>

Asuka let out a blood curdling scream and leaped up, and the jaws of Unit Two closed around a VTOL. As she came down, she dragged it around through the air with her jaws and tiny figures fell out through the windows. Misato saw the pilot struggled out through one of the cockpit portholes when Asuka took the craft in both hands, reared up, and bit down on it, plunging the Eva's blocky teeth through the steel and aluminum of their airframe. A human arm flopped lazily between her crushing jaws, dangled, and fell free as she began eating the craft, thrashing and waving the horned head of Unit Two from side to side, the Eva's body curled about its prey and gyrating lewdly. She threw the flaming wreck to the ground and turned, oil and hydraulic fluid and probably blood running down her chin, and gazed out at the oncoming troops.

"Tastes like chicken," she snarled.

Misato felt a sudden, sick twisting in her stomach.

"What have we done?" she whispered.

Ritsuko put both arms around Maya's middle and lifted her up from the floor. Slowly, Misato helped, steadying the slender girl by the arms. Ritsuko pulled her into a passionate embrace, hiding her face from the screen. Hyuga and Aoba watched in shocked silence as Asuka and Hikari began their rampage, their Evangelions stomping forward. Asuka laughed with unabashed, maniacal glee, her face twisted in a monstrous grin. Both of her eyes were green now, filling the entry plug with their inner light, and she'd sprouted a full row of fangs along both jaws. The camera view from within her plug went blank, and her umbilical erupted in flame, sheets of white-hot fire running down its length as insulation fluttered away as ash in the fading light and the cables themselves melted into a coiled snake of molten copper on the ground.

"You realize," said Fuyutsuki, "that we all really deserve to die."

Misato opened her mouth but found the words of disagreement unable to form. She watched in dull shock as Asuka threw her Eva into a flying leap that crested the edge of the city center and came down in a skid through the low buildings that surrounded the movable skyscrapers, raising a column of gas and dust. Unit Two dropped to all fours and hunted along the ground, great columns of flame erupting from her back. There was only static from the plug feed, but the sound of Asuka's wordless snarls rumbled through the complex as Unit Two pounded over the hills and smashed into the column of JSSDF troops. The Eva crouched and she scooped up a heavy troop transport, put it between her teeth, and bit down.

Recovering from their shock, everyone and everything with a weapon opened up on Unit Two at once. It was pointless. The fire simple stopped at the flowering orange manifestations of her field, the blooms of heat and shrapnel from high explosive tank rounds lighting her flanks as she moved. A particular tank must have annoyed her; she stomped on it and ground her foot, as if putting out a cigarette or dispatching an annoying insect. Unit Two threw its head back and roared in rage, and swept its arms in a circle, batting VTOLs down like flies. Unit Three rampaged behind her, plucking those VTOLs that tried to flee from the sky and hurling them into the ground.

"Major," said Aoba. "We have a problem."

"What?"

"They're doing a lot of damage, but they're not keeping anyone out of the Geofront."

"Shit," said Misato. "Open the bakelite injection system, block all of the upper level hallways."

"Will do… oh God, Unit One just launched itself."

* * *

><p>Unit One rose, a giant from the Earth. Shinji sat in his command seat, disdaining his plug suit and nerve clips. He no longer required them. Rei curled against him, comforted by the feeling of his skin by contrast with the LCL that surrounded them. His face was set hard, his eyes unfocused, and he released the control yokes and rested his hands on her hips and back.<p>

He reached up and manually tore off the control pylons. They had been hastily replaced and were unpainted, and crumbled under his grip and fell away. The other two active Evas turned and faced him, ignoring the puny things that swarmed about their feet, trying feebly to injure them. Unit One stood up to its full height and flexed, and the rippling muscles of the beast contained within the armor pushed the umbilical apparatus out of its body. Shinji reached up, curled his fingers into the iron mask they riveted to his face, and ripped it free. The pain of tearing the connections and mechanical viscera out of his face made him wince, but he ignored it. The view inside the plug temporarily went blank as the cameras were torn away. Unit One lurched, groaned, and opened its proper, biological eyes.

He saw everything, from the tiniest mote of dust floating in front of his face. When he held the hands of the beast before his eyes, he curled them into fists and flexed them, and with a great cracking sound the gauntlets and reinforced forearm armor fell away, clattering to the ground far below. His claws were razor sharp and caught the light, playing it along their edges, so fine they seemed out of focus, distorting the view behind them.

He walked to the nearest column of oncoming enemies and stared down at them with unabashed contempt. Rei tightened against him as he drew the nature of the beast into himself. When he closed his eyes and opened them again, they were pure green, ringed with black circles, and his fangs gleamed. The LCL in the plug began to move of its own accord, swirling in a whirlpool around his head. Outside, the very air matched it, gathering in a swirling current around Unit One, standing in the eye of a newborn storm. Shinji did not launch into an attack or disdain to assault his enemies physically.

"Die," he commanded, and it was so.

Unit One reared up. Light spilled from his eyes and mouth, and the beast pitched forward. A light so bright it drowned out the sun flared just in front of its smooth gray skull, and lanced out across the landscape. Wherever it touched, whatever it touched, was unmade. The light rolled over the landscape, burning away all before it, and when it reached its terminus expanded into a cross, forever etched on the hills. Where an entire armored column had once rolled forward, now only ash flowed on the wind over charred earth, hanging like moths. The ground itself burned, smoldering with heat.

He turned and waved his hand, and there was a rumbling. The earth itself rolled, driven up in a sweeping wave carried along under Unit One's claw. The roof of the Geofront groaned and fell inward, the buildings sinking, tilting drunkenly as a darkness yawned under them, opening to some unknown space. Men on foot turned and tried to flee, but the ground itself rebelled against them, tilting lazily until they lost their footing and slid screaming into the void. Shinji's mad cackle rippled over the landscape.

"Do you know the answer?" he whispered to Rei, resting his head on her chin.

"No," said Rei.

"Steel is not strong, but neither is flesh. Steel can bend and break, and flesh withers and grows weak. But the will, Rei, the will can last forever."

"Yes," said Rei.

"What is your will?"

He ran his gloved hand down her cheek and she shuddered, pressing her eyes shut. She rested against his palm for a while, enjoying his touch, and then bit down on seam of his glove and tugged, pulling at it until it slipped loose, revealing the fleshy mass that had enmeshed itself in his palm. His hand slid lower, down the small of her back, and her lips touched his.

It was time.

* * *

><p>Aoba stood up, stepped away from his station, and started walking.<p>

"Where the hell are you going?" Misato demanded.

"If I am going to die, I am not going to die with you assholes," he shrugged. "I just got the sensors back up. The UN has ordered an N2 sortie against us, and there's incoming blue patterns."

"Wait," said Misato, "What? _Patterns?_"

"He's right," said Hyuga. "I read multiple blue patterns approaching from all directions. Something must be screwing up the sensors."

"Maybe it's the lunatic in the rogue Eva," Aoba shrugged. "Fuck you guys, I'm out."

Hyuga sat there for a moment, dumbstruck, watching the incoming missiles on radar resolve into faint streaks in the sky, barely visible beyond the swirling clouds that moved over the city. He pushed his own chair back, slowly stood up, and shakily walked to Misato. He stared at her for a moment, then pulled her into a passionate embrace and a rather clumsy open-mouthed kiss.

"What the hell," he shrugged.

Behind them, Fuyutsuki gazed out at the main projection screen.

"And man grew proud," he said.

* * *

><p>Shinji stopped to watch the incoming missiles, laughing. His new brothers circled him now, a pantheon of cruel, indistinct shapes, not yet born, drawn to bear witness to his rebirth. He was no longer sure where he and Rei and Unit One ended. Tendrils of ropey grey muscle had broken into the entry plug and were wrapped around him, and Rei could no longer move, as her face and hands and belly were fused into him. He laughed and she laughed with him and Unit One laughed, the sound like barking peals of thunder as the missiles came in.<p>

The explosions swept around him in great bursts of light, the heat and force playing across his invincible AT-Field. He could have batted them out of the air easily, but he preferred to let the fools who launched them at him have one last moment of hope before he tore their souls out of their bodies and devoured them. When the explosion went off it planted a mushroom cloud like a tree, and he felt the charred remnants of Tokyo-3 sink away beneath his feet, but Unit One did not move. Asuka and Hikari, or rather the Evas, if they had not simply consumed their pilots as his was trying to do, stood watch around the end of the opening in the Earth where Unit One now stood on nothing but air, surrounded by shimmering heat.

The shapes of his brothers unborn joined them. He saw Sahaquiel, an ambulatory mountain that would have once rained from the heavens, and Iruel, a confounding shadow of ever changing hues that would have broken another man's mind to gaze upon, and Leliel, the shadow-thing that moved without form. Bardiel swirled and moved, a living cloud, gathering and shifting about mighty Zeruel, an impassive titan that towered over him, gazing down as God gazes down and passes judgment. Arael twisted obscenely, drawing in on itself and expanding like a flower, scenes from his life and childhood displayed, and Armisael looped and looped, a lake of liquid light that scintillated and curled back on itself.

The transformation progressed. Shinji allowed the warping to come, and he felt his flesh being drawn away, pulled into Rei who was pulled into unit one. Unit One shuddered, drawing on itself as the swirling colors over its head formed a thousand rainbows in hues undreamed of, and the air itself screamed in protest. The Eva arched its back and its flesh rippled, alive with its own inner light. The armor began to flare up, flames licking along its edges even as it softened and melted, the enamel burning away. The angels and Evas kept watch, swirling around, stomping out obscene dances as the transfiguration came into being.

From the opening that exposed the floor of the Geofront, Shinji rose, perfected, complete, whole. There was no pain or yearning in his heart, save one. A giant of light, he rose, his being now made godlike, drawn out beyond and through time and space. He was so achingly beautiful that those who had survived to see him fell to their knees and wept with joy, even as their AT-Fields collapsed and they all returned to nothing. Beneath his feet the Black Moon stirred, straining and pressing at the Earth to tear free and rejoin the heavens where it belonged.

He was as big as the sky. He held the world in his hands, and watched with unabashed glee as the seas ran red with the blood of a species that was no longer worthy. Every thought, every tiny hope, was open to him now, and it disgusted him. The men who had arranged his ascension were so base, so lewd in in their desires that it made him ill, such as a being of his might could be ill.

He stood in the study of Lorenz Keel.

The man was a ruin. His spine had been surgically replaced, and he needed a complex apparatus meshed directly and painfully to his brain to see. Machines in his wheelchair kept his heart pumping and lungs working, and his every moment was pain. Shinji regarded him with contempt.

"The Red Earth ceremony is complete," Keel rasped. "You are here to deliver me?"

"No," said Shinji.

Keel winced. A figure of perfection stood before him, a perfect Adonis carved from the most flawless alabaster, gazing into his artificial eyes with orbs of crimson.

"I will tell you a story," said Shinji. "Fire and wind come from the sky, from the gods of the sky. Once, giants lived in the earth, and the darkness of chaos, they fooled Crom, and took from him the enigma of steel. Crom was angered, and the earth shook, and fire and wind struck down these giants, and they threw their bodies into the waters. But in their rage, the gods forgot the secret of steel and left it on the battlefield, and we who found it, we are just men. Not gods, not giants, just men."

"We found the secret of the gods," said Keel. "We used it. You owe your being to us."

Shinji smirked. "I owe you nothing. Man is the bridge between ape and what is beyond man, Chairman."

He did not move. He simply crossed the space from where he stood to Keel's side, clamped his fingers around the old ruin's neck, and dragged him out of his chair. With a jerk, he broke the old man's neck and tossed his ruined mass into a pile of pallid old flesh and soiled nightclothes and his own refuse as he soiled himself in death.

"I have stepped on the bridge," said Shinji.

* * *

><p>Gendo Ikari had hands. He stared at them, holding them up against the red sky, turning them in small circles to examine his own flesh. A cool breeze played over his skin, and he felt a familiar warmth that made his heart seize. He leaned his head forward and touched his chin to another, felt her soft hair tug at his beard. He looked down and saw Yui, his Yui, naked as the day she was born, curled against his side. She let out a soft sigh and rested her chin on his chest, meeting her gaze with his own.<p>

"Goodbye," she said, and then she was gone.

She simply ceased to exist. His heart seized, and his breath caught in his chest. He rolled onto his side in the sand and gasped. The sea before him ran red with blood, lapping at the shore with a pink froth. He stood and stared down at himself, dumbfounded, as he was intact. He looked around in a panic, searching here and there. It wasn't supposed to happen like that. They were supposed to be together forever.

He stopped when he saw Shinji seated on a rock, gazing impassively out at the sea. Snarling, Gendo ran to him, hands poised to clamp down on his throat. When he reached him, he seized the boy by the neck and shook him, but it was like trying to plunge his fingers into marble. Shinji laughed at him contemptuously and brushed him off with a wave of his arm, forcing him into the white sand under his feet.

"I have her now," said Shinji, touching his chest. "She lives forever in me, as do they all. She and she alone will suffer loneliness, I fear. Even now Asuka and the others are drawn to the bosoms of their mothers. For Misato, the week she spent in bed with her Kaji will never end. Ritsuko and Maya will lie in bed after that first night they went for coffee together for the rest of eternity. Though Hyuga never knew her touch, he will wake up beside Misato, drenched in her sweat, every day for the rest of forever."

He fixed his gaze on Gendo. His eyes were hard. "Some, I denied entrance into the new heaven. I crushed Kiel's throat myself. They will not suffer as you suffer, though, for I merely excluded them. You, on the other hand…"

"What have you done?"

Shinji's gaze rose, and Gendo looked up at the great black orb hovering over their heads, Lilith's Egg shining in the heavens.

"You, I have perfected. Your flesh will never mortify. You will never age or fear disease. Any injury you inflict on yourself will reverse itself in a matter of hours. You are immortal, Gendo Ikari. You are eternal. When the stars go out and the universe goes cold, Gendo Ikari will remain to contemplate its nothingness forever."

"Why did you have to let me see her first? Why must you be so cruel?"

"I was not cruel," said Shinji. "That was her wish, not yours. That it flavors your suffering is incidental."

Shinji stood up, smiling, as Gendo sank to his knees. He gestured, and beside him, a pool of darkness formed. It formed into a monolith that gradually rose from the sand, and within it were stars, millions of stars, and something else. Gendo watched him step into it, and he turned.

"Where are you going?" said Gendo.

"My revenge is not finished," said Shinji. "Now that I am as the Angels are, I know the truth of their rage. They whispered the secret of the universe to me as I ascended to join them."

"What secret?"

Shinji smiled broadly. "Somewhere, there is a man with a typewriter."

He stepped into the void, and as it closed, Gendo saw, and he screamed, for within that void, there were Earths.

Infinite Earths.

Curled on himself, his forehead buried in the sand as if in prayer, the last man in the world wept bitterly for his loss, condemned to see his dream but never touch it. Now, Yui was truly lost to him, forever a memory, reduced to what he kept of her in his heart, and that was pain. The worst pain of all, though, was the realization of what he had done. He had been so blinded by his selfish aims; he had birthed that monster by his own hands. He wept and wept until the tears would not flow anymore, and then fell onto his side.

He looked up.

Seated upon the sands were three aliens. They were yellow.

"Gendo Ikari," said the first alien. "You are chosen."

"You will redeem yourself," said the second alien.

"You are coming with us," said the third alien.

Gendo knelt, hands planted on his thighs, and looked around. The blood-sea lapped at the shore beside him, and a black moon hung in the blood red sky.

"Am I in hell?"

"Not yet."


End file.
